Ninja of the Earth
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Naruto's first C-Rank mission was meant to be a success. He was meant to prove himself; to form his own nindo. Too bad fate had other plans. A chance encounter leads to a tragedy, and that tragedy swiftly becomes a departure from everything he's ever known. But it just might offer him a small chance at something more. DBZ crssover NarutoxHarem/pairing undecided. Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Bleargh! I'm finally able to write a new story again! I swore to myself I wouldn't until I mapped out the rest of Passing the Torch, and now that I have, its merely a matter of making a tweak here and there and voila! Chapters will be coming regularly and thus, with that in mind, I was finally able to reply to a challenge from a fellow author. I've been asked to leave their name as anonymous for certain reasons (Strange, if ye ask me) But I will honor their request for this story, whose concept is even stranger. Exactly the reason why I bothered to write it in the first place! Now, with that being said...**

**...be sure toe enjoy!**

_"What's going on here?! How can one boy have so much power?!"_

_~Vegeta_

**Arrival**

Prince Vegeta was a stone cold killer. Some might even call him cold-blooded. Heartless. _Ruthless._ He'd destroyed hundreds of planets, countless civilzations, slaughtered entire races, and for what? _For fun._ Not just under those orders of his master_-he, was servant to no one!-_thrill of the hunt, and the glroy of battle, nothing more. This madman had murdered entire species when he was just a boy, all without batting an eyelash. For the prince of saiyans, only three things mattered. The destruction of Frieza, the restoration of his race, and immortality. Beyond that he cared precious little for_-what the devil did they call it?-_friends or comrades. Even Nappa, his right hand man, he saw as little more than a tool. And why should he not? He was a prince! he had no need of such frilly attachments!

Even so, for a prince of only three-_known-_people, however, he had quite the ego. If he knew the remaining members of their race consisted of: the space pirate Turles, a derranged boy and his father, and Kakarot, the low level son of Bardock, his ego would've taken a considerable hit. As it were, he'd already suffered several. Blows, that is, not strikes to his substantial ego by any means.

Glancing blows at best, mere annoyances at the worst. The fools on this planet actually thought they could stop him! Him! The prince of all saiyans! As if he would fall to these peons! As if he, could be felled by sorcery rather than strength of body. The people of this planet used many strange techniques, however, wielding the elements as though they were their own. It was annoying! Troublesome at best. The silver-haried one, that masked man, was the most irritating of all. More than once he evaded a potentially fatal blow; only to strike back with the wrath of his feeble elements. All he'd done thus was far dirty the prince's armor. Nothing more than that.

They'd landed here in this fog-shrouded land of-what had they called it,Wave Country?-and promptly scanned for any beings of significant power. As luck would have it, they found such a being. Two in fact. One, a man in particular, wielded a giant sword. Of course, Napa got that one. Indeed, the balding saiyan was given the weaker of the pair to fight which left the prince to contend with a strange, silver-haired man; his mask at half mast upon the lower half of his face. He seemed quite intent upon protecting the trio of children behind him, and Vegeta had already taken great pleasure in eliminating the pink-haired wench at the first opportunity. As children went, she was by far the most annoying! Constantly shrieking and shrilling..he'd done the world a favor by blowing her to pieces! Oddly enough her death seemed to reinvigorate the silver-haired one. He struck with renewed ferocity, his hand crackling with light and lightning as he summoned a monumental surge of power. Vegeta remained nonplussed, uncrossing his arms as the ground began to tremble. Ah, an energy-based attack! So the people of this word _did_ have some knowledge of the concepts of ki.

_"Raikiri!"_

The prince did not flinch. He would not back down from a challenge, nay, any challenge, however petty it might've been. He braced himself, every fiber of his body tensing as the masked-man blitzed him, his technique tearing into the earth beneath his feet; ripping it asunder as though it were swiss cheese. Vegeta's scouter beeped a warning. Even so, the prince would not be budged. The man lunged, his lightning-filled hand seeking the chest of the armored warrior, thrusting through to the heart-

-and failing to penetrate.

He was only slightly dissapointed when it failed to penetrate.

_"Is that it?"_ Vegeta pried the still-crackling hand from his chest. "Your 'ultimate technique' couldn't even crack my armor." He scoffed, the patient expression warping into his trademark scowl. "Just as I thought, you're nothing!" Fear flickered in the man's eyes as he struggled and failed to extricate his wrist from the vice-like grip of the Prince. That fear found itself smothered in more immediate terror as Vegeta laid the opposite hand upon his chest, fingers pulsating with an eerie golden glow. He could see it in his eyes; the man knew his time had come; even so, he uttered one last burst of defiance.

"Sasuke, Naruto!" Hatake Kakashi shouted at his remaining students, uncaring as the blast singed his skin. "Run! You have to run before its too-

_Fool!_ Vegeta put an end to his words with an energy wave, obliterating the silver-haired man as though he'd never been. Kakashi didn't even have time to scream as his body turned to so much dust on the wind, blown away by the winds, borne away from the students he'd failed to protect.

Bereaved by the loss of his sensei and teammates the raven-haired whelp flew at him in a rage; flinging blows at a surprising speed for one such so young and inexperienced in the ways of battle. Vegeta toyed with him for a few minutes more, allowing him to believe he could win before a swift chop to the neck put an end to that fantasy. The boy had spirit. Such a shame he had to die like the rest. A brief burst of ki sent the Uchiha to join his clan in the Otherworld.

When the man know as Zabuza Momochi cried out in pain somewhere within the mist, Vegeta knew Napa had also won his fight. _Took you long enough, fool,_ he mentally chastised. The burly saiyan often enjoyed toying with his prey before finishing them off. And from the sound of that broken neck, it seemed he too, was finished. Now, that just left the blond one-

His scouter beeped a warning as brown and black blur flickered before his vision. He caught sight of a masked visage, and then, no more.

"You...You..._**ANIMAL!"**_

Black eyes bulged as a fist slammed into his cheek. Vegeta felt a trickle of blood worm its way past his chin but he hadn't the chance to wipe it away. Before he could hope to react, clenched knuckles found hiis stomach and bore down upon him with bonejarring force. Once. Twice. Thrice. When the power behind them inexplicably lessened, the prince forgot to hold back. Anyone worthy enough to injure hiim deserved his wrath. Vegeta lashed out with all his might and power, delivering a brutal haymaker that sent his unseen attacker hurtling into the mists to join his fellows. Whomever they were, they did not return. Just as well, he mused. He'd have beaten them within an inch of their life, waited for them to heal, and done it all over again.

The prince straightened his spine with a small effort, his surprise already fading into obscurity, replaced by an raging fury. Anger clung to him like the mists of this wretched land, all consuming; encompassing his every pore. Lowlife! He glared bloody red daggers into the mist, the red filter of his scouter turning darker still as he it detected a low power level within the mist. How dare they strike the face of royalty! HOW DARE THEY?!

A volley of ki blasts eurpted from his hands, laying waste to whatever lay to the right and left of him. When his scouter could no longer detect his attacker, he relented. No one could've survived that. Hopefully he'd had obliterated Nappa as well. Honestly, the man was beginning to grate on his nerves. No such luck.

"Vegeta."

...

"Vegeta."

...

"Vegeta."

...

_"Ve-ge-ta..._

"Oh godamnit Nappa!" Vegeta roared, unable to tolerate his lackey's insufferable behavior any longer. "What the hell do you want now?!" He cut his eyes across the mist, as a massive man waded towards him, grinning from ear to ear. Despite having gained a thin slice across his cheek, the hulking warrior looked no worse for the wear. He enjoyed a good fight, same as the rest. But what was that under his arm?

"What've you got there?"

The balding warrior grinned and raised a massive forearm.

"Look what I found!" He exuded. "A local!"

"Oh, for the love of-

At first, Vegeta didn't know what he was looking at; because Nappa wouldn't stop moving his damned arm! When he finally fell still the item in question soon became apparent. It, whatever it was, was clad in a hideous orange-blue jumpsuit, the kind of thing you'd only find at a bargain-bin sale. Hmm...he'd have to remember that one. He hung upside down, his eyes at half-mast; drooped and lidded as though in some sort of daze. A thin line of drool trailed down he side of his face and into the earth. Because Nappa had him by the tail. _By the tail!_ The brown furry appendage remained there, clutched tight within his massive fist, rendering his unruly captive powerless for all his efforts.

"What's your name, boy?" Vegeta asked.

When no response was immediately forthcoming, Nappa squeezed his tail even harder.

_"Naruto!"_ The boy all but screamed. "My name is Naruto! Now let me go!"

"Fat chance, kid!" Nappa scoffed. "You're gonna hang there until we're done wit ya, unless you'd like to end up like your friends?" He sneered at the child's shriek of rage, uncaring as the boy's eyes flashed crimson. He was still laughing when the boy's metal hitiate slammed into his mouth. Vegeta almost laughed at his partner's gobsmacked expression. It was rare indeed to see his fellow saiyan humiliated so. Nappa's retaliation was as swift as it was brutal; his knee smashing into the blonde's stomach with enough force to drive the breath from him.

_"Nnrgh!"_

For a moment, _just a moment,_ the boy looked as though he was about to burst into tears. But at the last, and just before they would, he closed his eyes, refusing to let them fall before his aggressors. Vegeta rewarded his defiance with a fist to the face. The boy raised criss-crossed arms in a feeble block, for all the good it did him. It was like tearing through tissue paper. One hit from the prince and the kid slumped, unconcsious. The notion would've been pitiable, had it been anyone other a saiyan to do him in.

"Stupid little shit!" Nappa was livid! "He chipped one of my teeth!" He swung the boy into the ground for good measure. "Ha! How do you like that!"

"Hold it, Nappa!"

"What?" Dumbfounded, the weaker saiyan complied, allowing Vegeta to get a closer look at the unconcsious boy. To have a tail was one thing. He'd seen countless races with tails and none of them came even remotely close to rivaling the saiyan race. The longer Vegeta looked, however, the more certain he became. This boy...was a saiyan. A saiyan! It shouldn'tve been possible, given his blue eyes, blond hair, whiskered cheeks_...but what was this?_ Even as he looked on those features seemed to _shimmer,_ the whiskers and blond fading away like mist unable to stand up to his might. The blue eyes persisted a moment longer before they too failed to withstand the test of time, falling back into black, onyx orbs. Both warriors jerked in surprise.

"What the hell?" Nappa guffawed. "What just happened?!"

"I don't know...perhaps it was an illusion of some sort?" Vegeta scoffed, remembering the dastardly deception the silver-haired man had tried to wreak on his pysche. Petty mind games! A true warrior faced his battles head on! He did not hide behind cheap parlor tricks! He clicked his scouter, suddenly curious. If this was indeed a saiyan, then he should have a somehwat sizeable power level.

_1,000. Surely that can't be it..._

"Nappa, let go of his tail."

"B-u-t-

Vegeta cut his eyes at him.

"I said let go of his tail!"

His right-hand man reluctantly complied, allowing the boy to crash to the ground and the prince to check his scouter once more. What he found there elicited a small chuckle. There seemed to be two sources of power within the boy, one significantly stronger than the other. Apart, they were nothing. Together, they equaled...

_1,500._

"Well well, I wasn't expecting this."

"What's the scouter say?" Nappa asked, laughing beligerently after Vegeta relayed the information he'd just gleamed. "Ha! Raditz's gonna be pissed." A soft groan warranted their attention. The boy was struggling too hard; desperately attemptng to crawl away from them. Vegeta guessed his destination with dispassion; he was trying to reach the fallen bodies of his comrades. What little remained of them, save their ashe. Ha! He'd gone soft, this one! There was nothing to be done for them now. The pink-haired wench and her teacher were dust in the wind, and the emo-brat was headless. What did the boy hope to achieve by looting the corpses of the fallen? If that's what he was doing. Still, Vegeta couldn't help but watch as the boy knelt beside the ashes of his team couldn't help but to snicker as the boy began to weep. What was this? Was he actually going to shed tears for them? Pah! Nonsense!

_We saiyans need nothing but the glory of battle, a place to sleep, and a hale and hearty meal._

"How could you?" The boy was glaring at them, bloody red daggers. "What did they ever do to you?" He stood woodenly, not taking enough care. "They were my friends." He accused, stepping forward. "How could you do this to them? How could you?! WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO YOU?!"

Nappa made the mistake of opening his mouth.

"They were weak!" He said it as though it were the simplest thing in the world. "If they were stronger, we'd be the ones lying there now, wouldn't we?" The boy stood there a moment longer, trembling. Mumbling. A low hiss left his lips. Fingernails bit into his palm and drew blood stretching into deadly claws. Those whisker marks might've vanished earlier, but they reappeared just as quickly, deepening into thick troughs on either side of his face as Vegeta looked on. The air seemed to shimmer around him, pebbles raising themselves from the earth beneath the sudden upsurge of energy unknown. If Nappa was concerned, they certainly did little to show it.

"Vegeta, what're we supposed to do with this kid?"

The prince glowered.

"How the hell should I know, Nappa?!" He checked his scouter again, just to make sure it wasn't malfunctioning. Odd. The boy's power was a little higher than before. No, wait...it was still increasing!

Vegeta watched as his scouter bounced up in intervals of hundreds. The air around him vibrated, shaking even the marrow in his bones. _1,600… what? No… 1,900… 2,500… 22-no, now 3,000?_ The scouter trembled with the earth as Naruto's scream buckled the earth around the trio. The boy's shriek of rage ended the brief display of power. A blood red aura_-a cloak-_engulfed him, stretching across life and limb. Enveloped in the energy, he erupted into motion, clawed hands tearing deep furrows in the earth; gouging out the mist-soaked forest.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

The scouter's reading finally came to a discernible halt as the two warrior's flickered away from his wrath.

_3,510?! That's not much lower than Napa's!_

That left him nearly _twice_ as strong as Radtiz and roughly five hundred below Nappa. And the boy was only a child! A power level like that would've made him an elite back on Planet Vegeta. It also begged the question then; what was such a powerful saiyan_-a full blooded one at that-_doing out here in this backward-ass galaxy?! Surely he couldn't have been so weak to be sent away! Naruto jerked his gaze skyward and screamed fury and fire at them; infuriated by his inability to reach them. He couldn't fly after all. His slitted gaze slid toward the treetops.

_But he could jump._

"Nappa!" Vegeta snapped as the boy's body erupted into motion. "Watch it! The boy is more powerful than he appears!" But Nappa wasn't listening. Sneering, the bald warrior raised his fist, flicked two fingers upward a half heartbeat later. Vegeta growled in disblief as the forest below their feet detonated; showering both saiyans in clods earth and timber. It was as if the hand of god had come down from heaven; extinguishing life and existence as they knew it; leaving the entire forest in ruin. Was it enough?

**"RAAAAAARGH!**

"Kid's pretty good!" Nappa grunted in surprise as an eerie orange-red blur came tearing out of the cloud of dust and debrist to greet him; began badgering him with wild, uncoordinated blows. Uncoordinated, though he might've been, he had eyes only for Nappa; those razor sharp swipes came dangerously close to tearing the warrior's throat out on more than one occassion. Finally, the berserk blond found an opening in the titan's all but impenetrable defense. The savage saiyan's tail lashed out, wrapped in malevolent chakra, and struck a glancing blow across the warrior's cheek. But that wasn't all. Even as he plummeted, to the earth, he flung his hand forward, and his aura stretched. Nappa roared in surprise as those deadly claws closed around his armored wrist, shearting through the armored gauntlet as though it were naught but butter.

"Aaargh!" Nappa tried and failed to pry the claws off, but to no avail. "What the hell is this stuff, Vegeta?! It's hot!" Yowling in pain and surprise, he didn't realize the feral fighter's true intentions until it was too late. He was not alone in his realization.

"Clever boy." Vegeta observed, his trepdation fading as he descended to the earth; realizing just what the boy intended. He couldn't very well fight in the air now, could he? He was trying to drag Nappa down; bring the battle,, to the ground, to his home. And by the look of it, he was about to succeed. Naruto screamed and gave a mighty pull! And the chakra obeyed. Nappa had only an instant to realize the chakra claws were _wrapped around more than just wrist_ before he found himself pulled. Yanked really, as he plunged beneath the earth's surface like a human splinter; his open mouth devouring dirt and debris, as he found himself buried beneath the hardened soil that'd once been a forest mere moments before. For the first time since he'd come to this recchid backwater planet, the prince found himself smiling.

"What's wrong, Nappa?" Vegeta laughed. "Has he gotten the better of you?"

As if in answerment, the soil erupted. Nappa's entire body bristled with ki, a his fists clenched at either side. Naruto said nothing. He simply stood there, a second tail already boiling out from the cloak. Vegeta blanched as the boy's power took another jump. What the devil did he have inside him?! Why was his scouter detecting two powers?! Nappa, his own scoutered destroyed during the battle, paid no heed to the bloodthirsty boy in front of him. Oh no, he was far too focused; fixated on his own wounded pride and rage.

"You little brat!" Nappa snarled, veins bulging in his head.. "You think you're hot stuff?! I was commander in chief of the entire saiyan army! You're nothing compared to me!" He stabbed a hand into the soil and showed his fist, crushing a rock between his fingers as though it were naught but an egg. "Do you hear me?! NOTHING!"

"Napa!"

"Don't try to stop me, Vegeta!" The great beast of a saiyan opened his mouth and began to gather power in the back o fhis throat. "Imma kill it!"

"Don't you do it!" Vegeta bellowed!

"Imma do it!"

_"Nappa, I said don't!"_ The tone of his voice left no room for arguement. "If you so much as a harm a hair on that boy's head I'll tear yours clear off your body!" His every syllable oozed killer intent. Nappa froze. To defy his prince was to die. He was no match for Vegeta. He knew this. But it didn't make any sense! What was so important about this boy that Vegeta didn't want any harm to come to him? He'd cert

"But why?!"

"He'll be of use to us." The prince replied, confident in his own victory, his eyes cutting across to Naruto.

"Boy!" Vegeta bellowed down at the furious kitsune. "Don't play dumb! I know you can hear me down there! You've had your fun!" He scowled his mirth fading when no response was immediately forthcoming. "Well, no more!" He raised a hand, violet energy striking his fingers askew. "If you continue to resist us, I'll destroy this pathetic planet and everyone on it, right here, right now!"

_...what?"_ The demonic energies surrounding him began to flicker and fade in the wake of this new confusion, dissiipating like so much mist. "Destroy the planet?" He gawped. "Y-You can't! There's no way anyone should be able to do something like that! It's not possible!"

"I can and I will!" Vegeta cackled, his aura surging to obscene heights. "The choice is yours! Surrender now, come with us now, or I'll reduce everything to ashes! Your friends, your family, everything you hold dear, alll of it will be gone! Do you want that, boy?!"

"But you'll probably die, too!" Naruto pleaded. "Are you crazy?!"

"I am a saiyan elite!" The prince smirked._ "I'm_ willing to take that chance. Are you?"

Naruto hung his head. This wasn't happening. This was not happening! His first _real_ mission, his first _real_ chance to prove himself, and he'd screwed up. Tazuna-san was dead. Everyone was dead. Sakura-chan. Sasuke. Even Kakashi-sensei, all of them were gone. And now, if he refused to comply, everyting else was going to be gone, to? Old man hokage, Shikamaru, Ayame and Teuchi...all of them would die if he refused to cooperate with this madman. He didn't want to believe it was possible, How could one man blow up a planet? How could he shoot energy from his fingertips? How could he kill sensei? How could be even remotely like him? Naruto hadn't wanted to believe that there were others like him; others with tails. Now that he'd found he was wrong, the gening suddenly found himself wishing he was alone in the universe again.

"Now, speak up!" Vegeta's voice sliced through his reverie; the words stabbing at him like a cold knife in the back. "I'll have your answer, one way or the other!" Naruto's teeth sank into his lower lip, chewing until he'd tasted blood. He didn't want to go with these men. Who knew what they'd do to him? No, he'd much rather stay here, if he had a choice. But he didn't have a choice.

"I'll do it...

"What's that?!" Vegeta bellowed. "I can't hear you over the DESTRUCTION of your planet!"

"I SAID I'LL DO IT!"

_"Smart move."_ Vegeta was suddenly before him, that arrogant, assuming sneer twisting his every feature. "You're not nearly as dumb as you look." Before Naruto could spit a final insult, before he could get in the very last word, the prince lashed out. He struck hard and he struck fast, clenched knuclkes sinking into his stomach with such force, he felt them brush agains this spine. And then there was pain. He sank to his knees, eyes wide and disbelieving, unable to believe the sheer amount of strength behind the blow. He struggled to raise his gaze.

"I...fucking hate you."

_"I know."_

Vegeta struck again, a debilitating blow to the neck that sent him spiraling off into dreamland. Naruto dropped like a sack of potatoes. His lasts thoughts were oddly detached, his mind had already accepted the fact he and his heart had not; he'd never see his home again, not so long as he was under Vegeta's thumb. His last thoughts were not with his friends or his family, though he had none of the latter to call his own. No, his mind had already made a fragile peace with his departure, even as he wept inwardly from a broken heart. It was ultimately his stomach that posed the inevitable question.

_I wonder if they have ramen where these guys are from..._

"Now, you'll be coming with us." Vegeta stooped, slung his new charge over his shoulder. There should be just enough room for him inside his pod. If the boy didn't fit...well, they could always send for another. He cast a disparaging glance back at Nappa; the burly saiyan was still visibly seething after being handed such a narrow loss.

"We're leaving, Nappa!"

"But Vegeta...

"No buts!" This planet wasn't worth destroying. Oh no. He had far greater plans for it, just as he did for the pureblood slung over his shoulder. One day, someday soon, they would rebel against Frieza. And this boy was the key to it all. He knew it. With his powers, they just might stand a chance against the cold tyrant. Now he needed only to remind the whelp of his saiyan pride, beat some subservience into him...and voila! He would be the perfect soldier to unleash upon his enemies, and with the proper training, he'd consider himself grateful for being snatched off this mudball of a world. Oh, Frieza was likely to cause a fuss once he realized that a nother saiyan had survived, but Vegeta would be there to reassure his 'master' that the boy need not be seen as threat. in the end, his own arrogance would be his undoing.

After all, saiyans had to stick together...

...the irony of it almost made the prince laugh.

_In reality, he had no idea just how much he'd underestimated his new charge..._

**A/N: As you can tell, I've been watching TFS'S version of Dbz for wee bit too long. I couldn't quite resist the urge to use their version of Nappa on occasion in this chaoter, as I find him to be quite amusing when it comes to driving the prince insane. Things'll get serious next chapter...for the most part. Remember, Vegeta was a major ASS before Goku kicked his ass to kingdome come, so to slaughter innocents like that solely for fun wouldn't be much of a stretch. And now he's kidnapped Naruto! Bad Vegeta! Bad!**

**Sooo...lets clarify things; in this story Naruto's parents were both fullblooded saiyans from the Planet Vegeta. Being of little power, he was sent to the planet-I've taken to calling it Ninjato-_months_ before Frieza blew Planet Vegeta to smithereens. Minato and Kushina are not his parents. They never had any son. Lacking one, they used the strange alien child found by an ANBU in a space pod only days before. Naruto's blond hair and blue eyes were an illusion placed upon him by the village council so that he might never realize his true heritage. Are his true parents alive? Dunno. That would be interesting, but I honestly don't have any inkling of who his mom would be, were that the case. Fasha, perhaps? It would be amusing-and hilarious-where she to survive her battle with Dodoria and encounter Vegeta later in the series. She'd give him the beating of a lifetime! Ah, but I digress. Naruto's father would remain unknown, for obvious can't be Bardock, that'd be just...wierd. And Turles? Perhaps. This takes place in the time before Nappa and Vegeta head for earth. Which means, alas, that they'll be dragging a very unwilling Naruto wit them.**

**And if anyone is a' wonderin' why Naruto's saiyan instincs haven't kicked in fully, well, that can be attributed to the way he was raised. Kami knows he's not going to like serving under Naruto turn evil? NO. He'll be dying to get out from Vegeta's thumb the first chance he can get. Just wait till he hears about the dragonballs... **

**Alas, its back to work for me once again, I'm going to try to my hand at overtime tonight, for the first time in while so I'll probably be wiped out tomorrow. But, hey, at least I'll have your reviews to look forward to, no? And with that I leave you with the immortal words of General Ivan...**

**...REVIEW OR IMMA KILL IT!**

**R&R! C=**


	2. Answers and Questions

**A/N: Mwahahaha! After much adue about nothing, I am proud to give youthe next chapter of Ninja of the Earth! A lot takes place in this chapter, so sit down, put up your feet, grab a snack and be sure to enjoy everything that is to come. I was listenin to Drowning Pool when I wrote several of these scenes...they're an amazing band to listen to when you're writing action scenes lol. Now for the disclaimer...Vegeta, if you would be so kind?**

**Vegeta: *sigh* Neonzangetsu owns nothing, including myself, save for the concept and premise of this story. There. Satisfied, human?**

**Nz: Very. Now, would you kindly hold off on the wholesale slaughter for a little while longer-**

**Vegeta: Cut the 'would you kindly' crap and start the damned story already!**

**Nz: Yessir!**

_"My son...is alive?"_

_~?_

**Answers and Questions**

Sarutobi Hiruzen was old. Some might even call him ancient. Wise beyond his years, he'd led the village hidden in the leaves through times prosperous and arduous since the death of the Niidaime in the Second Great Shinobi War. He'd seen many things, told many tales, and lived to a ripe old age where retirement should've been something involving many grandchildren. Something to treasure. He'd wanted lived out the last of his days in relative peace and serenity, surrounded by friends and family until Kami himself finally decided to take him fromthis world and into the next. His glory years were long since past. What more could god possibly expect from him? He found his answer in the form of strange space pod, come crashing down to the planet.

None knew his origins. One did. He did. He'd seen many before, countless before, and he knew one day that this boy's time would come, just as it had with all of the others in the past. Now he found himself face to face confronting a prince, many times stronger than he, more than half his age and twice as vicsious. But Sarutobi Hiruzen had his pride, and he willed his stiffening spine to straighten; the old authoritative tone returning to his words as he addressed the arrogant intruder standing before him.

"Why have you come here?" He asked, his tone genial, carefully ignoring the dead bodies just outside his door.

"I've found something of interest on this puny planet of yours." The prince of all saiyans remarked idly, and it was only then that Sarutobi noticed the child slung over his shoulder. "This," He gestured to the slumbering boy, "Is a member of my race. Funny thing though, he's much _younger_ than he should be. Care to explaint that, old man?" There was a silent venom in his words, an implied threat that implied an equal amount of pain should he hold his tongue. Hiruzen chose to feign ignorance, rather than give this pompous prince the information he so desired.

"A member of your race, you say?" he touched a finger to his wrinkled chin. "I haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about."

"I thought you'd say that." The prince shook his head in lament. "Why must the people of this planet be so insufferably stubborn?" He shrugged forlornly. Punched a button on his scouter and spoke loudly. "Nappa, you can begin now."

"Gladly!"

Before Sarutobi could hope to ask just what the prince meant, he heard the screams. He didn't look out the window. He dare not. There were dozens of them. Shinobi and civilian alike, all began to die.

"You fiend!"

"That," He indicated the slaughter taking place just outside the window, "Is for Nappa's enjoyment. Not mine. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll tell him to stop."

Sarutobi blanched as the prince laid the boy down. If he could just reach him-!

As if sensing his thoughts, Vegeta offered a sly sneer.

"You're welcome to try."

Without warning the prince lunged forward and into the darkness and caught Saurtobi's throat in his grasp. Only the reinforced neckpiece kept his windpipe from being crushed in an instant. The prince slammed Hiruzen into the concrete floor hard enough to dash any man's brains out. His bare fists pounded on Sandaime's skull with unbelievable force blow after blow smashing down like a jackhammer. Concussed and breathless, all he could think to do was buck; his forehead mashing against the prince's widow's peak in a vain attempt to extricate himself from the brutal beating. It worked. The prince staggered, alarm, then wry amusement flickering in those cold dead eyes. He stepped backward, massaging the small bruise he'd been left.

Hiruzan had already regained his feet, his hands flipping through the signs-

_"Oh no you don't!"_

Hiruzen's eye went wide as his _right hand_ was severed from his body, the limb now falling away from him in a flash. The wrinkled fingers were still wriggling slightly as the nerve endings within them struggled to form a sign, struggled, to receive signal from his brain once more, slipping from the sign they'd been meant to make as his remaining hand groped on blindly. Sarutobi choked in surprise and clutched at the sudden wound, his left arm stretched out in an attempt to grab and wield the fallen appendage.

The Prince of all Saiyans buzzed into view, his body blocking the Hokage's limb, his eyes glaring out coldly from behind the frightening visor of his scouter. With a hiss, he swung his hand backwards, a errant blast of ki rocketing out from the tip of his finger and incinerating both the hokage's limb and a sizeable portion of the wall within the foreign energy.

"I'm sorry," He smiled. "Was that important?" His grin grew as the hokage groaned and clutched at his limb. "Looks like it was." He stole a glance over his shoulder and at the wall admiring his handiwork as he peered a moment into the opening he'd created. Nappa certainly was enjoying himself. His gaze snapped back to Hiruzen as the scuffling of feet alerted him to motion. Despite his injury, the wounded kage had picked himself up once more and now lay crouched in the afternoon light, leaving the prince standing in shadow. Light and darkness. How fitting.

His scouter beeped a warning an instant before the Sandaime Hokage flung his hand forward.

White hot energy carromed harmlessly off the prince's palm, singing his glove as he slapped it into the floor. His scouter was shrieking at him now, its cries dying down as the hokage's power level took an abrupt dive in the opposite direction. Exhasuted he sank to his knees and into the prince's waiting hand, gloved fingers tightening about his throat. Hoisting him off his feet and into the air the prince silently marveled at the resiliience of these shinobi. They were fine warriors, even if their tactics were a tad underhanded. But this one...

"Nice try, old man." He snarled, and his grip tightened a millimeter. "Am I meant to believe that this boy was the only saiyan ever to be sent here?"

Sarutobi favored him with a stern scowl. The truth was out. No point in keeping it hidden any longer.

"You were meant to, yes."

"Coward!" Vegeta accused, eyes narrowing in recognition. "Traitor! I remember you now! Son of Brussell! Your father, raised an army and tried to seize my father's throne! He fled the planet in disgrace when you were but a child!" Disgusted, he flung the hokage to the floor, uncaring as the old man gave a gasping gurgle of renewed agony. To Sarutobi's infinite dismay he scooped up the still prone form of the boy and slung him over a shoulder, depositing him there as though he weighed no more than a sack of flour.

"I'll ask you one last time." Vegeta warned, his palm flaring with restraind _ki._ "Why isn't this boy fully grown? Malnutrition? Torture? A jutsu of yours? Answer me!"

...never."

_"What?"_

"You'll never be able to unlock his true potential." Sarutobi scoffed up at him in defiance, blood welling up between his bruised and broken lips. "I've sealed it away...it is lost to him now."

"You did what?!" Vegeta was furious! He wanted to crush hokage's head! Taking a deep breath, the prince exercised restraint. Were the boy ever to realize his mentor had been slain he'd doubtlessly refuse to cooperate with them. He still wanted to make the man suffer, though. Perhaps if he broke every bone in his body? He was a saiyan after all; that wouldn't kill him and without his dominant hand he'd be half the warrior. Maybe he ought to take off his other hand as well, just to be certain. Before he could set himself to the task however, a burly shadow thrust itself through the opening in the wall with alarming speed.

"VEGETA!"

The prince nearly jumped out of his skin as Nappa appeared before him.

"What is it now, Nappa?"

"Look what I found!" He exuded as he thrust a muscular arm forward, giving his prince a _serious_ sense of deja vu as he introduced to him a young girl; her body secured in his hand by an iron grip upon the collar of her jacket. "Another local!" Vegeta nearly fell over when Nappa set her down at his feet. Not again!

"Godamnit Nappa! What have I told you about-

"But she knows about the kid!" Nappa protested. "She even knew he had a tail!"

"Did she now?" Vegeta's interest was piqued. "Interesting." He swung around to face the girl; rewarding her soft whimper with renewed, and intense scrutiny. She looked as if she just might shrink away into her jacket, such was her fear of him.

She was a pale skinned little thing, but her eyes even moreso. They seemed to peer right through him, those eerie lavender orbs, piercing him to the core and then some. He couldn't help but notice that gaze; she kept drifting toward the former blond slung over his shoulder. There was fear and anxiety in her gaze and yet, something more. So much more. _Oho!_ Vegeta frowned, the gears of his mind clicking together. She had feelings for the boy. _Perfect._ Thankfully this wench didn't have a tail. She was human. All the easier to control.

"What is your name, girl?" he demanded of her.

"Hi-Hinata Hyuuga."

Vegeta's grin grew.

"Well then, Hyuuga, how would you like to serve a prince?"

Pale eyes bulged so large he was certain they were going to fall out of her head.

"N-Naruto-kun's a... _prince?"_

_He most certainly is not!_ Vegeta opened his mouth to say these words, to deny her claim at royalty, but then an idea came to him. The girl was clearly smitten with the boy. Why not perpetuate the lie? Let her think he was a prince. If she did, then she'd certainly be more inclined to listen to his 'offer' when he made it. He just had to swallow his pride this one time. _C'mon Vegeta, you can do it!_ He urged himself. _You are a prince! This is for the good of your people! You can swallow your pride...just...this...once...!_

"Yes...he certainly...is." Ever word was like glass on his tongue. He practically gasped in relief as he finished the falsehood. "In a way, you could say we're brothers." Well that, at least, was a half-truth. Saiyans shared blood, so technically they were related. He placed himself firmly between her and the hokage, knowing he'd full well he'd ensnared her mind with his words.

"Where are you taking him?" Hinata wanted to know.

"We are taking him off this pathetic planet to remind him of his saiyan heritage." No point in lying there. He fully intended to instruct the boy in the ways of their race...once he'd beaten the basics of ki and respect into his ungrateful hide. Behind him, Nappa sniggered. Vegeta shot his cohort a withering glare. _Shut up, Nappa!_ He willed at the balding saiyan, glarind bloody red daggers. _You'll ruin everything!_ Gathering himself, and his composure, he continued:

"Would you care to join us, girl?"

Hinata bucked in surprise.

"Me?"

_Yes **you **you insufferable simpleton!_ Vegeta barely bit back the words before they emerged. "Its quite clear to me; you care for him deeply. I'd just hate to separate the two of you simply on a whim." He almost gagged at his own acting skilla. She'd have to be hopelessly in love with the brat to actually believe such a thing-

"Please, take me with you!"

_And we have a winner! _But he had to make certain of her true intentions.

"You're willing to wait on us, hand and foot?" he asked. "To conform to our every need?"

Hinata hesitated.

"I-If it means I can be with Naruto-kun...then yes!"

"Very good." Vegeta allowed a cold smile_-held back for so very long_-to spread across his features. "There's just one problem though."

"W-W-What's that?"

_"You're still awake."_

He struck her in the stomach with one of his 'soft' punches. Hinata toppled over like a broken tower, the breath stolen from her lungs, alongside her concsiousness even before her face became intimate with the ground in a way no self-respecting shinobi desired. Satisfied that she was indeed unconcsious, the prince bid Nappa to pick her up. Only then did he return his attention to her hokage.

"What do you mean to do with her?" Hiruzen demanded.

"She may not have the blood, but she'll certainly be of use." Vegeta cackled as Nappa slung her over his shoulder. "After all, what better way to ensure his cooperation than with a willing hostage?" His signature whitish blue aura flared about his body, launching him and his companion across the horizon. "Enjoy what's left of your village and your life, son of Brussell! Someday, I'll be back, to finish what your father so foolishly started." Sarutobi Hiruzen could only look on helplessly as the saiyans vanished, leaving the ruins of he once mighty Konoha in their wake.

* * *

_(?)_

**"Stupid kid!"** A darkened voice growled at him from the blackness of sleep, her words laced with exhaustion.** "You fucking _owe_ me for this. And I collect my debts!" **A furious scream tore through the black and it was gone, the blessed blackness; replaced by bright light. So very bright! He could feel hands around his body, holding him, cradling. "It's a boy!" Someone exclaimed from ofscreen, and as if on cue he felt a indignant wail build at the very back of his throat. When he did scream it was loud. Loud enough to earn laughter from those around him.

"Ha!" Someone laughed. "Listen to him! He's certainly got the spirit of a saiyan?"

**"A boy?!"** The darkened voice of the woman whined somewhere behind him.** "Fuck! I wanted it to be a girl! Give him here!"**

"No." Another voice growled. "Not yet. What is his power level?"

There was a distinctive beep somewhere out of sight.

"Sire...its...its...

"Well, what is it?!"

"Two hundred."

"What?! Only two hundred?!" A cape flared before his vision, pursued by the harsh footfalls as he went somewhere else. "Bah! Another weakling! He's no nephew of mine!"

There was a silence. Then...

**"Give me him."**

"But my lady, you're much too weak...

A snarl, followed by an explosion.

**"I SAID GIVE HIM!"**

"Y-Yes m'lady!"

He saw a face peering down at him now, darkened, sleep-deprived eyes of violet-black peering into his own.

"Huh." She sighed. "Little guy's...kinda cute."

He was vaguely aware of a man, standing at her elbow, cald in faded blue fatigues, not assimilar to the ones Vegeta wore. But this, was not Vegeta. The hair was all wrong, and the man was much taller than the prince would ever be. He couldn't make out his face, save for a strong jaw, and spiky hair, but he feld an odd nostalgia nonetheless.

_"Whaddya wanna call him?"_ The man asked.

"**Shut up, Torra!"** The woman growled, eyes flaring a furious jade. **"I'm thinking...**

Her face brightened with a fierce smile.

**"I'll call you-**

The memory shattered like glass as his surroundings shook, an inistent beeping blaring to jar him forth from the face of the one who'd birthe dhim. He groaned, the vision already slipping away from him like mist, when he tried to close his fingers aroun it. Or was it a dream? He wasn't sure. He knew only that he stirred with a sudden longing in his chest, clinging to the one name he'd heard. The man at her elbow had a name. It was...

**Torra.**

Naruto woke to darkness. He found himself seated in a chair, confined to a terribly small space, with only a single viewport. Something told him not look but, he did he listen? Nope! Stars stretched before him, spanning the horizon, in either direction. A cold pang of fear stabbed at his chest and stomach, wormings its way through his body into a shuddering shiver as he remembered what'd happened. _The mission._ He'd been so excited so very excited to have his first real mission. Then came the attack. Sakura. Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke. All gone, wiped out alongside Tazuna, Zabuza and his mysterious masked partner. He remembered the rage, furious and all-encompassing, pouring from every pore. He'd fought them but it hadn't been enough. He'd been bested, not by the bald one, but by the threat to destroy the planet, if he failed to comply. The last thing he'd felt was the smaller one's fist, slamming into his stomach.

Then...nothingness.

Naruto slammed his fists against the console but to no avail. It would not budge. And even if it did, what awaited him beyond, save the cold vaccum of space? Rage welled up inside him; a tidal wave of impotent fury to which he had no release. They were gone. All of them. All gone. He could see three streaks of bluish white just beyond the cockpit's viewport, and it was to his dismay, that he realized he was not alone. He was trapped with these men. Truly, and utterly alone. He didn't even pause to consider whom the third pod belonged to; because soon thereafter his anger was left smothered in more immediate grief. No one was going to save him from these men.

And with that knowledge, Uzumaki Naruto curled up into a ball and wept.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Rather, he tried.

"Are you awake in there, boy?"

His eyes snapped open as Vegeta's voice shattered the silence of the craft.

Who? What? When! Where! How?!

"I'm speaking to you through the radio." His irrtation was evident, even through the static. "Doubtless you've just woken up, but I thought I should inform you; we'll be arriving on the home planet soon. Be sure to be on you best behavior for Frieza. He has a penchant for vaporizing those who talk back to him," Before Naruto could ask just who this 'Frieza' was, another, much softer voice punched through the static. Well, not much of a punch, considering, but it was one he recognized nonetheless.

"Naruto-kun?" It whispered. "Are you there?"

The former blond shrieked, another tear slipping from his eye as entire body bucked in surprise; his head striking the pod's ceiling with a resounding clang. Ouch! Rubbing at the rising welt between the raven locks, still struggling to get his voice and breathing under control, he tentatively stabbed the blinking light on the console. Imagine his surprise when a translucent screen popped into view before him, revealing the face not of the third saiyan as he'd initially surmised, but a visage of the more agreeable sort.

"H-Hinata?" He exclaimed aghast, recognizing her face after a moment of thought. What the hell was she doing here?! "What're you-

"Sh!" She shushed, momentarily surprising him with her fierceness. "They'll hear you!"

...alright."

Naruto managed a nod. Leaning forward in the chair he grunted when he found that it barely accomodated his height. Either the pod was _ridiculously_ small or he'd suffered a sudden growth spurt. Wait a second. Did his voice always crack like this?

"Hinata, what're you _doing_ here?" He asked at last. She was the _last_ person he'd expected to find out here in the vast nothingness of space.

Even through the screen, he could see her face inexplicably brighten. Strange. Was she sick? Did she have a fever? He tried to peer closer, but his shoulders bumped against the pod, denying him access.

"I...I was worried about you." She lowered her head and pressed her index fingers together. "You weren't waking up, and they were questioning me all about you for so very long...b-but I didn't tell them anything!" For her bravery, she was rewarded with a sigh and a relived smile. Naruto slumped back in his seat, happyg to have found at least one friend amongst the stars.

"Well, um...thanks, I guess." They'd never really talked before since they were children, so he wasn't exactly sure what to say. "I appreciate it. But why are you here?"

Tears brimmed at the Hyuuga's eyes.

"They said they were going to take you away because of your tail." She shook her head. "I couldn't let that happen."

Naruto blinked. He'd only shown her his tail once, and they'd been children back then. In all honesty, he'd forgotten about it. But she hadn't.

"Hinata...I...

She raised her gaze, suddenly tentative once more.

"Naruto-kun...?"

...thank you." Naruto lowered his gaze so she wouldn't see the flush on his once whiskered cheeks. He didn't know what else to say, but he felt he should at least say something. He raised his gaze to do so and abruptly found that space wasn't as empty as he'd thought it was. A vast blob of blue loomed before them.

"Do you see that?" Hinata asked, her words filled with awe.

"Hmm?" He peered around the screen as the planet swung into view. "Huh? Yeah,but...what _is_ that?"

"That's enough chatter, you two!" Vegeta's voice sliced through the tension like a hot knife through butter. "We're about to land, and I expect you to be on your best behavior when we do! Do _not_ make me reget this or so help me I'll disembowel you both! That goes for you too, Nappa!"

"But Vegeta-

"NO BUTS NAPPA!"

Both genin quailed at the tone of his voice. They had no idea what terrors awaited them on the planet below. Naruto felt the creature within him shiver in anticipation; the Nine-Tail's own delight at meet such a poweful entity was soon quailed by the fear of its host. He could sense it. Something deep inside him instinctively cringed away from it was they plunged toward the planet's surface. Something wretched, was down there. Cruel beyond belief and wicked without measure. And he, at Vegeta's behest, was about to come face to face with that monstrosity, whatever it was.

_Dear Kami, what have I gotten myself into..._

* * *

**A/N: Poor Naruto. He's about to meet the most powerful being in the universe and he's scared out of his wits. And as a saiyan, has every right to. Wouln't you be? As to answer another question, why isn't Naruto near the age of Goku? Excellent question. All will be revealed in the coming chapters! Alasl, I must leave you know for works calls once again. We'll see some much needed action in the next chapter and remember, THE PAIRING IS NOT YET SET! It can go any number of ways with different girls, depending on what happens. So no flames, please. Now, dear reader, I leave u with the immortal words of Trunks...**

**...REVIEW OR IT WILL BE THE END OF ALL OF US!**

**R&R! =D**


	3. Unlimited Potential

**A/N: Mwahahaha! After much adue about nothing, I am proud to give you the next LOOONG chapter of Ninja of the Earth! A LOT MORE takes place in this chapter, so sit down, put up your feet, grab a snack and be sure to enjoy everything that is to come. There's a big surprise and reveal in this chapter, so prepare to be gobsmacked! And to fully clarify, this takes place roughly two years before Raditz sets out for earth to 'recruit' Goku. Meaning... A timeskip is fast approaching! Now, for the disclaime. Frieza, if you would?**

**Frieza: *Ahem* Neonzangetsu owns nothing, including myself, save for the concept and premise of this story. Is that all?**

**Nz: Not quite. I need you to sign something.**

**Frieza: What's this?**

**Nz: A contract, saying you, Lord Frieza, will kindly hold off on killing the rest of the saiyans for at least the next three chapters. I need them for the story, after all. Plot devices and such.**

**Nz: But they're filthy monkeys! What doest it matter if I kill one or two?!**

**Nz: Frieza... *Crosses arms***

**Frieza: Oh very well. I have a question for you, though.**

**Nz: Hmm?**

**Frieza: _Die._**

**Nz: That's...not a question...**

**Frieza: *Death Beam***

**Nz: Wahayah?!**

**Frieza: That's because I don't take requests. And I certainly don't sign contracts!**

**Nz: In... that... case...on...with...the...chapter...**

_"Oh joy. Another rambunctious monkey with a mouth."_

_~Frieza._

**Potential Mate and Potential Greatness**

The scout caught the series of blips on his radar and alerted the crew at the landing pad to stand by. The landing crew soon arrived and watched with trepidation as not one, two, not three but _four_ pods broke through the atmosphere and hurtled towards the great rubber pad. They bounded against the gel with enough force to obliterate a mountain, but the pad held fast and firm onto each sphere. The pod doors slid open as though on rusted hinges, creaking open to reveal each individual within. The menacing form of Prince Vegeta and High General Nappa were to be expected, but the occupant of the third pod nearly caused them to leapo out of their skins at what they uncovered: a bloodstained youth wrapped in tattered orange rags, his black eyes, ragged hair and tail identifying him as a saiyan. The crew hesitated about what they should do, until the fourth pod creaked open to expose its fourth and final occupant.

In contrast to the bloodstained terror, this one was positvely timid by comparison.

Pale eyes the color of lavender, wearing a jacket made for colder climates, not the humid temperatures of Frieza Planet 184. Unable to stand up beneath the combined weight of their gaze she darted behind the blood-soaked saiyan, seeking refuge from their disbelieving grunts and guffaws. A low growl left his lips, as though he could somehow ward off their disbelieving stares. Every scouter within a mile radius began to beep as an ever-rising power reached them. But it wasn't the saiyan. It was something else.

A streak of brightness flared on the horizon, forcing all aliens, saiyan and human alike, to peer toward the stars.

"What the-

Scarce had the prince spoken than a _fifth_ pod crashed into the planet, overshooting the rubber bad by several yards. Shooting straight toward them! The dark haired saiyan had just enough time to shove the lavender-eyes one out of the way before the pod carromed off the concrete and crashed into him, driving him across the courtyard and into the hangar bay. A massive explosion, rocked the landing pad, eliciting several nervous glances from the landing crew.

"Think he's dead?" Nappa ventured.

"If he is, you're next." Vegeta growled as he stomped after the fallen pod.

"W-Wait for me!" The pale-eyed wench scrambled after them.

The landing crew simply balked.

"What are you fools doing standing around?" The silken voice came through their scouters crisp and clear. The question was not asked in a harsh tone, but it still snapped the men's spines back into place. "Bring them back at once. Lord Frieza doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"A-At once, sire!"

* * *

Naruto groaned.

It was the only thing he could do; because his arms and legs were pinned beneath the pod, trapping him and preventing all other movement. With a mighty grunt he bucked; pushing his elbows against the dirt and the back of his knees into the scorched silver of the pod. Singed flesh was his reward. The craft was still smoking from its violent reentry into the planet's atmosphere. Brow furrowed in consternation he'd gave a final push, ignoring his seared hands as he finally freed them from the packed soil. The door chose that very moment to fall open, crashing into the soil.

Unthinking he lashed out; his fist striking with something solid.

"Ouch!" A planitive whine emerged from within the confines of the pod. "You didn't have to hit me!" Naruto froze, every muscle, every cell, every fiber of his being standing on alert. His tail stood ramrod straight behind him, bristling in response to his sudden stress. Two beats thereafter, an auburn-haired lass emerged from the confines of the pod. Her heart-shaped face was face smudged with soot, her white apron and hat singed by smoke and flame, her hair coated in grease, but he saw none of it. His eyes remained locked on the tail peeking out behind her apron, swaying too and fro, bellying her own dizziness. Were it not for the tail he might've recognized her eventually, but as it were, the furry appendage merely confirmed his worst hope/fear.

"Ow." She whimpered, massaging her head aching temples, stepping into the light. "That really, _really_ hurt!"

Naruto's heart leapt into his throat as he saw and recognized his favorite ramen cook emerge from the confines of the pod. _Ayame._ Was his very first thought. _No._ Was the second. The rest was a blur of mixed emotion; feeling so fierce, he didn't know what to do with them. _What are you doing here?! I'm so glad you're here. You can't be here! I want you here. I left because of you! But you followed me._ _No! Yes. No!_ Abruptly, the mire of his mind; that incoherent jumble of thoughts, converged, focusing on a single point.

_Her._

Naruto flung himsef forward, his arms locking around her back and waist in a furious embrace, fierce enough to knock the ramen chef back on her heels. Hmm? Her head, barely reached his neck. Had he grown? Or had she shrunk? He distinctly remembered Ayame being at least a head taller than him. Her entire body stiffened, turning to stone in his arms.

"You idiot." He hissed into her ears between sharp sobs, torn between furious relief and gut-wrenching grief. "You stupid idiot."

"Naruto?" She blinked, unable to recognize him, save for his voice. "Oh, dear sweet kami! Is that you?!" At his tentative nod her body softened, collapsing into his arms and clutching at his shoulders and chest. Much to his dismay, _Ayame _was the one sobbing, not him, her entire body wracked with heart-wrenching grief. "Naruto...Naruto..." She chanted his name like it were a mantra, as though it would somehow see her through her sudden sorrow. "I'm sorry, " she whispered. "I'm so very sorry."

"W-What're you apologizing for?"

She was mumbling now; traumatized and incoherent.

"M-Man in armor...the village...the villagers...he was killing everyone...laughing...oh, Naruto, he was laughing!"

_"What?" _

Cold dread froze into a fist inside his stomach. He could sense Vegeta, coming over the rise. There wasn't much time.

He shook her gently, trying to jostle some sense back into her.

"What happened?!"

She gazed back at him with hollow eyes.

"Teuchi...papa...he killed him...tore his head off..."

Naruto wasn't having any of it. Those bastards reneged on their word! He'd promised to go with them to keep his planet safe, and they'd started slaughtering everyone anyway?!

"Give me the condensed version."

* * *

_The village was being slaughtered._

_"Go!" Her father shoved her forward._

_"But papa!"_

_"Damnit Ayame, I said go!"_

_She watched her father turn, watched him catch the fist of the crazed bald warrior; the madman who'd waltzed into their village and suddenly started slaughtering everyone. She knew her father was a warrior, just as she knew he and she were different from the rest of Konoha's populace. She knew papa and momma were proud fighters; but he'd stopped training about shortly after her mother died. She watched his fist barrel into the face of the madman, a single blow driving him halfway through the air and across the village. Ayame knew she should run yet, she found herself rooted in place as another blow drove the bald berserker deep into the street like a human splinter._

_For a moment, just a moment, she dared to hope that was that; that it was over. Only the hokage was stronger than papa. This man couldn't possibly be stronger than-_

_Foul laughter erupted from the earth._

_"Well!" The man in armor cackled as he erupted from his prison in the dirt. "This place is just full of surprises!" He wiped a bloody blotch away from his face and sneered. "But you...you're, just a weakling, just like the rest." Gaze of maddened madness swept towards her. "You hear that, kid? Your old man won't last ten seconds against me! I'm gonna kill ya, and Imma keep killing ,until Vegeta tells me to stop! Now, gimme a good fight before ya die!"_

_"Why are you still here?!" Her father demanded, whipping around to glare at Ayame. "I told you to-_

_What happened next would be engraved into her memory forever. The saiyan's massive hand closed around papa's throat and pulled. Hard. Blood. So much blood. She screamed and ran, her tail tucked beneath that of her apron and out of sight. She didn't think; didn't know showing it would save her life. She was too terrified, to horrified to do anything other than flee._

_"Get back here!" The bald man roared, hurtling after her. "You little bitch!"_

_Before he could seize her, however, he found himself intercepted. Ayame never saw her saviour, nor did she care to thank him or her. She caught sight of lavender eyes only and then she as gone. She ran. She ran and ran and ran, darting through the chaos until the terrified faces of all the populace blurred into one amidst the smoke and flames and tears._

_The rest was a blur._

_She shoved her way inside her house. A portion of the wall parted before her touch, sliding back to reveal the lone occupant within. A gleaming silver pod awaited her at the end of the hall, beckoning with its sheen. The sounds of slaughter grew closer still, so very close. She flung herself inside, just as she'd been taught, and collapsed against the padded seat. She might've been out for hours, maybe even days. She remained blissfully unaware of her words as she slumbered, as the slaughterers left her planet for the stars._

_Finally, she stirred. They were soft, but her words rang painfully clear to the pods internal system._

_"Naruto..." She mumbled mournfully, her voice causing the computer to stir, to flare to life. "Naruto...where were you?"_

**_"Confirmed."_**

_The computer had been active since the very day it had landed, all those years ago. It knew who this Naruto was, and it knew where his pod was headed. It was a simple matter to copy the telemetry and pursue. She'd no idea what to do when the pod lifted off, stasis kicking in as it ascended to the heavens. Ayame bucked in surprise._

_"What?! Wait! No! What're you doing?! Stop!"_

_The computer did not answer. Its course was already locked, and soon she found herself falling once more into blessed slumber..._

* * *

Naruto wanted to retch. Teuchi deserved a better end than that.

"Ayame... He faltered, the words failing him. What could he say? What could he do? There were no words he could use to bring her father back, no jutsu powerful enough to revive the dead. If there was...well, then he certainly didn't know it. In the end he managed only an awkward silence, his rage blazing anew with every tear dripping behind those hazel-black eyes. _Damn you Vegeta!_ One day, he'd make him pay! Someday, when he was stronger, when he held the right cards, and the arrogant asshole wasn't lording the destruction of his planet over his head...he'd kill him!

...I'm sorry." Was all he could manage in the end, and he hated himself for it.

Ayame shook her head.

"Don't." She whispered. "I don't even want to think about it." Her eyes brimmed as she peered up at him. "Kami, Naruto! You look so damned different!" She touched a tentative hand to his face, holding it there for the longest moment, as if the act could somehow summon back those whiskered she'd used to love "Your eyes, your face and," here her face lit with a soft blush, "even your body. Especially your body. But, you're still you, aren't you? You're still...Naruto?"

He nodded numbly.

Ayame reached up and wrapped her arm around his chest.

"Thank goodness." She breathed. "I was so worried...something might've happened to you. That you might not be...well, _you_ anymore."

"You were...worried?" Naruto could scarcely believe his ears. "About me?"

"Of course I was worried about you, baka!" She bopped him on the cheek, her fist rubbing where his whiskers had once been. "We're the same, aren't we?" Naruto nearly swallowed his tongue. Ayame had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. Even as an orphan, he'd always relished the days when her father; stiff, stubborn old man Teuchi, would let her play with him. Their playdates had ended, when he was ten, and she'd started working at Ichiraku. The very next day he'd started visiiiting Ichiraku Rame. He'd been their favorite customer for a reason and not just for the food. He'd gone there to see Ayame. What was it about a girl with a tail that drove him so...so bloody crazy?!

Even now as he gazed upon Ayame, covered in dirt and dust, eyes welling with fresh tears, she'd never looked so gorgeous. So...so...absolutely ravishing. Naruto wanted to shake his head; to dispel such thoughts. He was only fifteen and she, sixteen. He was far too young to be thinking such things! Certainly not about girls! But everytime her saw her tail twitch it sent an invisible shiver up his spine.

And then, as if seeking comfort, her tail brushed against his. It was like flicking a switch.

"Ah!"

His mouth opened in a small, round O. The look on Ayame's face, one of starry-eyed mournfulness, abruptly dissolved into an expresson of complete and utter bliss. Her tail inched closer, tentatively touching his, closer still, wrapping around the length of the furry appendage. Naruto felt weak in the knees. They'd never done this before, even when they were children, forced to play indoors for fear of being seen with their tails out. The feeling was indescripable. They'd never known. _He'd_ never known. Dear kami what had he been missing all these years?! It was as though he'd lost a piece of himself only to find it here within her: her tail twined within his. It felt so natural. Right. Ayame whimpered, not out of fear; oh no, the sound that fled from her lips mirrored that of the own joy and bliss he felt. In that instant a bond was formed. An unbreakable tie, that nothing in the universe could ever hope to sever. He searched for something to give name to it; anything at all.

_Ecstasy._

There was no other words for it.

"Naruto-kun." Ayame whispered softly, eyes wide and disbelieving. Before he could hope to speak she stepped closer to him, nuzzling her cheek against his neck, her tail still wraped against his. He flung his arm around her waist while holding tight to the other, gripping her hand with such force he feared he might break it. When her lips inched toward his he reaacted as any fifteen year old would; he buriied his face in her shoulder not trusting himself to react accordingly. Blighted hells, He felt like such an idiot! This was a pure and innocent moment, something sacred for their race that he knew nothing about. And here he was bloody terrified. Not of her, oh no, he was just terrified by the prospect of kissing her! Hinata was the furthest thing from his mind; she could've been standing right next to him and he'd never have noticed. Thankfully she wasn't but still! Her tail_-Ayame's tail-_unwittingly stroked his, a tiny moue of need leaving her lips as she nestled her head deeper into his neck, pulled herself closer into his embrace. Here, together, united in both grief and relief they clung to each other. The moment stretched on into eternity. Peaceful, quiet, serene.

And then _someone_ had to go and bugger it.

"What's going on over there, boy?!" Vegeta's sneering voice demanded from the lip of the crater, causing the two to jerk apart. "Who's down there with you?"

"Put your tail away!" Naruto hissed at Ayame, careful to keep his body blocking hers. "Quick!"

"What?" Ayame blinked, confused; her brown eyes fluttering open and shut with all the rapidit of a hummingbird's wingspan. "But why-

"Just do it!" Naruto was sweating bullets at the prince's approach; if Vegeta realized Ayame had a tail like him, she'd become hopelessly ensnared in the prince's plans, just as he was. He didn't want to lose one person for whom he truly cared. Certainly not to him! But it was too late. The prince had already cleared the lip of the crater, and now he was before them. His lips lay half-open, whatever bitter retort he'd had planned, fallen just short of words. His black eyes bored into Ayame, taking her in, her tail, intertwined with Naruto's. A slow smile wormed its way through and across his lips.

"Well, well." He chuckled softly. "What, do we have here? I thought you knew better than to keep secrets from me, boy."" He reached forward, cupping Ayame's chin in his,turning her face from side to side. She bit his hand. _Not gently._ Naruto guffawed. The prince scoffed at her sudden temerity and withdrew his hand; gloved palm lashing out in recompense, an almost casual backhand cracking toward her face. It never landed. She flinched back from the strike; but in the end, Ayame needn't have bothered.

Uzumaki Naruto, for all his earlier weakness, stood between them. His fingers remained locked tight about Vegeta's wrist, harsh crimson orbs boring furiously into the prince's disbelieving onyx. The two saiyans stared one another down; unknowing cousins, sharing the shame blood, each refusing to budge. Vegeta's scouter beeped a warning, demanding his attention, but the prince carefully ignored it. _How can his power level reach seven thousand so swiftly?! He was far and away stronger than Nappa at present._The boy's eyes were that eerie shade of scarlet again. Did that have something to do with it? Was his power influenced by his emotions like the saiyans of old? If it kept rising like this...

"I won't let you kill her." Naruto growled at last.

"Fool!" Vegeta hissed back, wrenching his wrist from the boy's grasp. "I wouldn't dare!" At Naruto's disbelieving expression, he continued. "Don't you get it?! She's the last female of our race! Without her we're doomed to half-breeds and extiinction, from breeding with those beneath our stature!" To Naruto's dismay, he began to shove Ayame back toward the pod. "And you just bonded with her, you sand-brained idiot!" He growled at Naruto's furious exclamation to the contrary. "Don't make that face and start helping me! Frieza _cannot_ know of her existence! He cannot!"

_"Cannot know of what, my dear prince?" _a serpentine voice asked from somewhere above.

If ever there had been a time when Naruto saw true fear, it was now. Now, as he watched the anger fade from Vegeta's eyes, replaced by cold, stark fear. Naruto followed his gaze and found himself likewise frozen. He couldn't blink. Couldn't _breathe_ as he stared into the cold, reptilian eyes of the most powerful being in all the universe. Frieza was a good deal well, _shorter_ than he'd expected him to be. But that did nothing to quell the overwhelming power emanating from this reptillian creature. And what's worse: _Vegeta was afraid of him._ Naruto realized this with a cold hill. He was afraid of this alien, and with good reason! He was much stronger, than Vegeta, or Nappa, or even the two of them together.

Behind him, Ayame whimpered.

"Naruto...

"Tell your woman to be quiet." Vegeta hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm about to save _both_ your lives."

"She isn't my-

His prince silenced him with a flick of the wrist, turning back to the one responsible for the slaughterer of their race, though neither yer knew the horrible truth. The fear lingeed in those orbs for only an instant and then it was _gone,_ replaced by that of cold reverence.

"You cannot know how incredibly _fortunate_ we were to discover these two, Frieza." Vegeta lied through his teeth, forcing a smile as he indicated Naruto and Ayame. "Two saiyan half-breeds. They'd already laid waste to the planet by the time we arrived." The sheer amoung of false pride in his words was overwhelming. Had he not known of the ruse, he'd actually have believed it. "Unfortunately, its been reduced to ashes, lord."

"Oh?" Naruto bit back his own bile as the alien's hoverpod descended towards the crater's edge. "How unfortunate." Naruto instinctively moved to shield Ayame with his body, his taiil only reluctantly uncoiling from hers and even then only with a concsious effort. He had no idea what he was thinking. What was wrong with him? Why did he feel this sudden need to protect her, to keep her safe? It was as if all the feelings, he'd ever held for her had been amplied, ten-no, a, hundredfold! And it was driving him crazy! Simply standing next to her was enough to set his skin afire. One look. That was all it took, a slip of the eyes over his shoulder, to confirm she felt the same. Despite her fears Ayame hedged herself closer to him, her tail unintentionall tickling his.

_Sweet Kami!_ Naruto nearly fell over, but his fear kept him rooted in place. The alien overlord stared at each of them calmly, eyeing them as though they were no more than a piece of meat, to be devoured at his leisure whenever he so pleased.

"Hello, my dear boy." He fought the urge to gag as the tyrant loomed before his face. "I'm sure Vegeta has told you a great deal about me."

"Not really, no." he was cursing himself even as the words left his lips.

There was a silence.

Vegeta was so consumed with the desire to laugh that a short guffaw nearly flung itself forth from his lips. _Blunt as ever, boy!_ Doubtless Frieza would be enraged over such a remark, but it was well worth it to witness a gobsmacked expression such as this from the cold tyrant. Naruto didn't share in the prince's optimisim as Frieza's tail lashed against the side of his hoverpod, creating a sizeable dent in the metal. Naruto nearly flinched aside at the sight, but bade himself be silent as the overlord thrust his face_-uggh such bad breath!-_before his own.

"I, am Lord Frieza." His words oozed anger and arrogance._ "I,_ am the one who decides whether your or your little friend lives or dies. Do you understand?"

...pleased to meet you." Naruto replied stonily, his expression suggesting he was anything but. Something within him quailed at the sight of the tyrant, but he refused to let it show. Vegeta wanted to reprimand the boy for his impudence now, but he found himself unable as the cold ruler spoke.

"Quite the feisty pair you have there," The astral overlord smiled, still addressing Vegeta as he asessed Naruto's power level. "Lets see...one thousand five hundred seventy five." His serpentine gaze slid towards Ayame as Naruto looked on, helpless. "And what do we have here?" His scouter beeped. "Four hundred. Its just as you say, Vegeta. They must be half-breeds. How else, could they possibly be so weak? I suppose they are just monkeys after all...oh, I have an idea." His smile suggested it wasn't a very good one, not for them. "Zarbon, be a dear and bring Nappa and that girl down here, would you?"

Vegeta's disbelief was palpable.

"Sire?"

Naruto watched as a pale, green-skinned alien_-holy crap was that a man or a woman?!-_detached themself, from the congregation of alien soldiers surrounding them. He had a bad feeling about this. A glance at Vegeta confirmed he felt the same. A muscle jumped in the prince's jaw. Gradually he was made aware of the horde of aliens staring down at them, of Nappa leading Hinata down after him. And that was when everything went straight to shit. Ayame bristled, her recalcitrance morphing into outright terror as she beheld the bald berserker standing there at Vegeta's elbow.

"It's...It's him." She whispered in his ear, her eyes locked upon Nappa. "He's the one who...who...Naruto...what are you doing with them?!"

"I'm _not_ with them!" The Kyuubi container protested, his voice a low hiss. "It was either I come with them or they destroy the planet!"

"That's not possible!"

"Believe me, I thought a lot of things were impossible a few weeks ago!"

"That still doesn't explain why you're with them!"

"Damnit, I didn't want to lose you!"

Ayame froze. Tears danced on the edges of her lashes, threatening to fall at the slightest provocation.

"Naruto...

"Naruto?" Frieza's gaze fixated upon him. "Ah, so that's your name is it? I never could understand how saiyans chose to give their children such strange names." His gaze slipped to Hinata. "And what is your name, little one?" Something in his tone made Naruto's blood run cold. Hinata wasn't a saiyan. Hell, she wasn't even much of a fighter! Once Frieza realized this...

"Hyuuga Hinata." she answered, blissfully unaware ofher own peril.

"What?" As if on cue the overlord's scouter sounded off. "Your power level is practically nonexistent." Whatever trace of a smile he'd once worn vanished with these words. "And yet you stand before me as if you have a purpose here." His hoverpod drifted closer, leaving Naruto helpless to assist.

"Are you a saiyan?" he pressed of Hinata.

"No...

"Can you fight?"

"N-No...

"Then of what possible use are you to me?"

Without another word Frieza turned, raised a finger, and pointed it at Hinata. A pink pinprick of light shone at the edge of the digit, growing larger with each second.

"Begone, trash!"

Hinata's eyes widened in shock as the overlord's signature technique screamed forward at her. It was too close to dodge, and she was far too too weak to reflect the attack. All she could do was stand in silent disbelief as the wide beam of destructive energy roared towards her. Silent terror, as she realized she was about to perish; and all because she had no purpose.

The attack never landed.

Frieza frowned as a saiyan leapt in, batting the ki away as if it were nothing. The new fighter glanced down at his hand, now badly charred from the attack, wincing as smoke rose from the scalded digits before running it back through his thick black hair. It was a mistake, as the residual heat nearly set his hair aflame, elicting a sharp yelp and a rather humurous dance.

"Yow!' He hissed, waving his smoking hand up and down. "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Vegeta's jaw nearly dropped clear off his face.

_This boy...is he really stupid enough to jump in front of an attack like that? Or is e really just that powerful?_

Naruto really couldn't be held responsible for what had happened or why he'd gotten in the way. He really couldn't. He simply didn't want anyone else to die. One moment he was standing before Ayame. The next he'd seen the beam and since no one seemed willing to stop it, he took matters into his own hands. He hadn't thought to account for his _tenant_ hadn't paused to consider it might've lent him a glimmer of its power; that its intervention was the only reason he still had a hand at all. The silence was deafening now, broken only by Naruto's own muffled cries of pain.

"Well, aren't you a cheeky one." For the first time since they'd met, Frieza actually appeared genuinely surprised. "For a moment there, your power reached 200,000." His gaze slipped to Vegeta. _'Vegeta...did you plan for this? No...your surprise appears genuine. You weren't expecting that, either.' _Inwardly, he frowned_. 'I must keep a closer eye on these saiyans. For one of them to display such power, however briefly, is dangerous indeed. He can't possibly be a half-breed, can he? No...it doesn't matter. I can still crush them. I have nothing to fear from such a meager power. However, if they were to breed..._

His gaze slipped to Ayame, and his thoughts were his own once more. He failed to notice the saiyan's hand; that it was already healing behind the boy's back the charred flesh and melted skin already regaining healthy pallor once more. Irritated, both by his failed attempt to kill the weak human girl and the fact that there were more saiyan survivors than he'd initially surmised, the cold ruler had a strong desire to distance hiself from here as swiftly as possible

"What are you fools doing standing around?" Frieza barked at his minions. "Get back to my ship and prepare it for departure!"

"Sire!" The men saluted and scattered.

Frieza's oily gaze slid over the assembled saiyans as if they were ants; mere insects to be crushed at his leisure.

"Naruto, was it?"

The blond refused to honour the alien overlord with a response.

"I suggest you learn to respect your betters." Frieza advised. "After all, someone might mistake your temerity for incompetence and we wouldn't want that now, would we?" His gaze deliberately lingered on Ayame and Hinata as he spoke before sliding back to the besmirched blond. In that intant, Naruto knew he was buggered. His hopes, dashed. His fate sealed. _Defy me again at your own peril, boy._ Those were the words that Frieza and his merciless gaze conveyed. It was one thing to wriggle out from beneath Vegeta's thumb. But Frieza? Naruto was cursing himself. _Damn you Uzumaki Naruto. Damn you. Damn you._

He was still seething when Frieza's hoverpod ascended, hurtling across the horizon to where his ship awaited. Dear kami. He was trembling all over. How am I going to get out of this? He fought down the desire to grab Ayame, dive into the pod, and plot a course to the most distant, remote corner of the galaxy. Leaving Hinata behind with these wickedmen. Shame filled him. When push came to shove, he really did care for Ayame far more than he did Hinata. Even moreso now, after that...what had Vegeta called it? Bonding? Whatever it was, he was still fighting his body's instinctive response to it; to take her, and bend her body over a basin. Kami knew she was willing. Even as he thought it, watched a light flush creep up across Ayame's her neck and spread to her cheeks. The hell? She'd seemed to blush when he thought of-

Her cheeks darkened further still.

"Stop thinking about that!" She squealed, steam spouting from her ears . "It's so embarassing!"

"Th-Thinking about what?" Naruto sputtered, sweating. She couldn't have read his mind, could she?"

"Alright, that's enough!" Vegeta sighed, massaging his aching temples. "You're able to sense one another's feelings because of your bond. Now, would you kindly stop being in heat for a moment and listen to me?!"

Ayame blinked in surprise, relieved to realize they were _finally _alone, free from the foul tyrant for the moment. And yet at the same time, she was utterly furious. Her father's murderer was standing right in front of her and there was nothing she could do to avenge him. Ultimately, Naruto beat her to the punch.

"Yeah, about that...

"Hmm?"

"Someone wanna tell me _what the hell just happened?!"_ He was glaring bloody red daggers at Nappa. "I made a deal with you guys! You weren't supposed to hurt anyone!" He flung a hand toward Nappa. "But from the look of it _and_ from what Ayame-chan just told me, you did just that! You killed old man Teuchi!"

"We're saiyans, kid." Nappa said it as though the words explained everything. "Whaddya expect us to-

"That's enough out of you, Nappa!" Vegeta snarled, suddenly shoving the larger saiyan. "The boy's right! You, almost killed the last fertile female of our race! I don't want to hear another word from you!" Despite the prince having taken his side, Naruto remained nonplussed. Vegeta could've ordered the slaughter for all he knew, and now he was trying to save face. He didn't know; because he didn't trust either of them. Kami, he just wanted to curl up into a ball and go to bed, Ayame spooned against him-

_Crapola!_

"Kyah!" Ayames squeaked. "Naruto no ecchi!"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Naruto growled, his tail standing ramrod straight,

"BOTH OF YOU!" Vegeta snarled. "STOP TALKING!"

Hinata 'eeped' in fear.

"But-

"One more word out of ANY of you and I'll kill all of you myself! I swear it!"

Still seething, he turned his wrath upon Nappa.

"Well, don't just stand there! Take them to the armory and get them fitted for suits!"

When Naruto moved-reluctantly-to follow the prince stopped him with a hand on the shoulder.

"Wait, boy."

Naruto growled. He was in no mood to be chummy with a mass murderer.

"My name, is Naruto."

"And I'll keep calling you _boy_ until we figure out what your saiyan name was." Vegeta responded, waving his anger away as though that too, were beneath his attention. "Now then, I want you to tell me everything you know about this strange red power of yours." Naruto blinked. Red power? What was he talking about? He knew nothing of a red power-

**"He means me, you simpleton."**

_Ah_.

"You mean Kyuubi?" Naruto ventured.

The prince frowned.

"What in the nine hells is a _Kyuubi?"_

Naruto nearly face-vaulted.

"Its...a long story. Let's just say I have a lot of power sealed nside me." He regretted the words the moment he'd mouthed them; because Vegeta was smiling. Indeed, the pompous prince grinned, and for a moment, just a moment, the fear of that smile outweighed Naruto's fear of Frieza. _Aha!_ Vegeta gloated inwardly. So _this_ was what the old man'd meant when he said the boy's true potential was sealed away. They'd have to do something about that. If this boy could tap into even a fraction of that power to increase his own strength, imagine what might happen if he learned to unleash it at will!

"Erm...why are you smiling?" Naruto gulped.

Impossibly, Vegeta's grin grew.

"Boy,...I'm going to take great pleasure in drawing that power out even if it kills you."

* * *

And thus Naruto's training began under Vegeta. If he thought prince had been brutal before he was sorely dissapointed. After the prince finished beating the basics of ki into him and Ayame_-literally-_he proved to be one of the most relentless teacher's he'd ever known. He certainly didn't improve his reptuation any when, exactly one week after Naruto's arrival on Frieza Planet 184 he dragged the former blond out of his bunk, bade him get dressed, shoved him and Hinata into a pod, and brought them planetside to another planet entirely. It was there that he introduced the young saiyan to his greatest foe yet.

_Gravity._

It pressed down upon him from the blackened skies, threatening to leach the life from his lungs, eager to drive them into the charred earth. He could barely breathe! His pristine white boots dug into the soil with every step, his newly minted saiyan fatigues had nothing to do with the sudden strain, but they suddenly felt twice as cumbersome.

"Gack...why is everything so heavy?"

"This is the planet Tritek." Vegeta continued as if he hadn't heard him. "You're going to train here for the next two years, so you may as well get used to it." Naruto balked. Two years without seeing Ayame?! What kiind of depraved bastard would do such a thing to him?! Oh, wait. Vegeta, that's who!

"But why?!"

"Because you've angered Frieza, that's why!" The prince spat back, seizing the former blond by the collar. "He's not the type to tolerate an affront like that, certainly not the one you just pulled. Which is why we need to keep you and your little girlfriend out of his sight for awhile." When the younger saiyan attempted to protest, he pushed him backwards. "You truly are a fool, aren't you? You bonded with her. She's your mate now! You _have_ to produce children with her!"

Naruto's eyes bulged so hard he was certain they were about to fall out of his head.

"EH?!"

"Imbecile!" Vegeta's ki flared as he scorched the ground near where Naruto had been standing. "Let me explain this to you in terms you can understand. That girl of yours is _the_ last pure-blooded female saiyan in the entire universe. And you _bonded_ with her. She won't want anyone else now. Neither will you, if you know what's good for you. When we saiyans bond we do just that. We choose one mate for life and that mate is the one to produce our children. In others words, Nappa and I can't do anything to touch her. She wouldn't produce a child, not for us no matter how hard we tried! If Frieza finds out he'll kill her for sure and our race will be finished. Do you understand me now, boy?"

Naruto nodded numbly.

"Where's Raditz?" he'd met him the other day. Arrogant prick.

"Off to retrieve another member of our race." Vegeta answered.

Naruto's ears perked up. He didn't like being the newbie! Maybe this one would help him escape...

"Who is it?"

"His younger brother, Kakarot. And before you get your hopes up, you're _still_ the youngest by far."

"Damnit!" Naruto growled. "I'm sick of this!"

Vegeta's response was to hold up a small jar containing dozens of seeds.

He placed the seed in the soil and watered it. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the soil began to twitch. Cracks appeared; minute fissure, worming their way out of the earth. A bulbuous green head was the very first hing he saw, followed by stubby, criss-crossed arms. A creature straight out of his worst nightmare erupted out of the soil baleful red eyes gleaming, sickly green flesh gleaming, claws twitching in eerie anticipation for the fight that was to come. Inane laughter left its pallid lips as it raised a tri-pronged hand, beckoning.

_"Gi!"_ It cackled madly, circling him. _"Gigigigigigigiiiiiii!"_

"W-W-What the hell is this thing?!" Naruto gawped at the minute monstrosity. Damned thing was even shorter than him, and _that_ was saying something!

"This, is a Saibaman." Vegeta explained. "You will continue to fight them until you are able to defeat five on your own, as I did."

"FIVE?!"

"Did I stutter?" The prince spare no further banter as he stepped aside, revealing Hinata. Naruto bucked in surprise. The fragile human girl was clearly struggling to move let alone _breathe_ beneath the terrible weight of 10x gravity. She smiled weakly at him, and Naruto cursed himself.

"For every hit that saibaman gets in, I'll take one step toward her." Vegeta said it as though they were discussing the weather not a matter of life and death. "And when I reach her, I'll break one of her arms. When I'm finished with the arms, I'll start on her legs. And once I've spread those," His sneer grew at the sudden rush of color in the blond's cheeks. "Well...let's just see just how important these 'bonds' of yours are once you've watched me finish with your non-mate."

Hinata whimpered fearfully.

"Naruto-kun...

Naruto felt a chill whip through his body. So this was why they'd brought Hinata. They couldn't touch Ayame, not unless they wanted to risk the future of their race. Hinata was another matter entirely. She was only the weak human to them, easily used, easily expended. He knew it. Vegeta knew it. And it pissed him the hell off!

"You son of a-

"Begin!"

Naruto yelped his surprise as the little green man flung itself at him, arms spread wide, ready to welcome him into its deadly embrace. He flung himself backwards and away, but it was too little, too late. Arms like iron wrapped around his waist and legs, clamping down in an overpowering vice. Blue eyes bulged. What the heck?! He struggled, but to no avail. The evil imp, refused to release its hold, and even as he looked on, its body began to brighten with golden light.

"Oi!" He snarled. "Leggo! Let go of me, you little freak!"

"This is what happens when you underestimate your opponent!" Vegeta's rebuke could barely be heard over the blood pounding in his ears, but he heard it nonetheless. Naruto watched his captor raise a finger towards him, whether to assist or attack, he knew not. But before the deadly bomb could detonate, the Saibaman found its arms, were no longer locked around the blond but rather, a large boulder. Red eyes bulged, but it was already too late to disarm the bomb. A keening shriek of surprise left its lips mere moments before its body blew, spattering the rocky soil of Tritek with its gory remains.

"Jeez!" Naruto breathed, dabbng at his forehead and face as he reappeared some distance away. "That was way too close!"

Hinata nearly swooned with relief as she watched her beloved dust himself off. She felt to stupid! They'd been so used to ki attacks, she'd forgotten all about ther knowledge of ninjutsu. Naruto knew the substitution art just as she did. She'd been foolish to think he wouldn't use it when backed into a corner. been taughtthe art of substit

"And what the hell was that?!" Vegeta's scorn soured her thoughts, condemning the young warrior for his narrow escape. "Now, no more of this ninjutsu of yours! Fight like a warrior!"

Naruto barely even saw the seeds be planted before two additional saibamen erupted from the earth and flung themselves at him. Fast! This was his only thought as the twin saibamen converged on him, claws bared in blatant defiance of their comrade's demise.

He tried to nudge the blow aside with his wrist as he'd been taught, but all he earned for his effort was a slice in his cheek. _Damnit!_ He backpedalled, cringing as the second pounced upon him, flinging volley after volley of energy blasts towards his back.

"That's one!" Vegeta turned toward Hinata.

Naruto flung a glance at them; only to feel claws scrabbling at his armor, stabbing into his stomach.

"Two!"

His head jerked forward in a savage headbutt; his first realy victory of the day. The saibaman hissed its fury ast it staggered backward, but that maddened mirth never quite left its face

Its head split open like an overipe orange, dousing his right arm in acid. Naruto yowled in pain.

"Three!"

No! Naruto's entire body went rigid; blissfully unaware of his attackers as Vegeta raised a hand. He watched him lay it upon Hinata's wrist. Not again! Not ever again!

"Stop it!" Naruto screamed! "That's enough!"

"Stop?" Vegeta's souless gaze slipped over his shoulder as he began to squeeze Hinata's arm, wrenching the limb painfully toward the arid skyline. "I'll stop when you give me a reason to." The prince continued to exert pressure, tugging harder and harder. Hinata wanted to be strong. She really did. She didn't want to cause him anymore pain than what she'd already been through. But as her shoulder left her socked she failed to quite clamp down on the exquisite cry of agony that fled from her lips as he dislocated her shoulder. Her scream actled like a catalyst.

_**"I SAID STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"**_

Sensing his distress, one of the Saibamen chose that exact instant to attack. Its clawed hand tore through the blonde's stomach, shredding fabric and cloth and-

_Air._

Claws passed through an afterimage, rending its surprise strike utterly ineffective. A whisper of movement at its left was its only warning before an upturned elbow struck the back of its head. Shrieking in surprise, both saibamen spun about, but the blond was gone once more. Vegeta's gaze slid to the right.

The fist came up hard, sending the first saibaman flying even higher into the air. He tried to stop himself but his foe did it for him with an elbow to the face. Within two seconds he hit the mountain, tearing the peak off the rest of the rock. It rose, blood dripping from its mouth as the boy in blue and white hailed him from below.

"Get your asses down here, both of you." His words were rough and foul; cruel and crass with untapped power. "We're not finished yet." The dark haired prince smiled below, full of far more confidence than he'd been at the beginning of the boy's training. _Now that's more like it,_ he thought as the evil midgets from hell attacked the boy in unison. A low growl in his throat brought a smile to the prince as battle was joined once more, the spar far less one-sided then it ought to have been. Beside him, Hyuuga Hinata whimpered and Vegeta once more contemplated the notion of erasing her from existence as he'd done to the pink-haired one. No, he decided as he watched the youngest saiyan alive fight off the saiba, she was neccessary. A lever was needed to control the boy; a fixture to remind him of his place. And what better way to do so than with a one-sided crush who held so many feelings for him?

_What better way indeed..._

Two hands flung themselves forth at either side; two palms erupted with white-red energy, flinging his opponents away as the reappeared to the east and the west. "Good!" Vegeta shouted, releasing his hold upon the frail human girl Naruto offered no reply as he straightened, his spine bending to its full height once more. His gaze snapped to the right mere moments before white claws tore out his throat; the deadly white incissors snipping strands of blond-black hair as he dodged backwards, skipping in retreat.

They flung themselves after him with reckless abandon, and that was their mistake.

Naruto's fist shot out like a pulley, taut fingers stabbing through the Saibaman's chest as though it were made of tissue paper. Scarce had he done so than the creatue exploded, spilling cybernetics and bodily fluid all over the length of his arm. The second never saw him coming. It didn't even have time to scream before his hand phased into existence before its face alongside the rest of them. A furious scream followed by a surge of crimson ki and then it too, was gone; reduced to so much ash in the wind.

Naruto turned toward his captor/mentor, eyes ablaze with fie.

"Don't you fucking touch her!"

Vegeta fought back a laugh as his scouter beeped a warning. There it was! At long last His hidden power! Three thousand and still rising! He grit his teeth as the boy's power leveled out at just under four thousand, and without the hideous amalgamation of his eerie energy cloak. _Dissapointing._ He'd been hoping for at least five thousand. He was still weaker than Nappa, though not by much.

"Yes...that's what I want to see!" to Hinata's initial relief he stepped back, only to pour the _five more seeds _into the soil. "Show me! Show me your saiyan spirit, boy!"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried out as the soil ruptured between the, exposing the newest batch of saibamen, these ones far stronger than the rest.

Naruto said nothing as the five miniature mutants encircled him, testing the limits of his awareness. He brought both his arms up at his sides and clenched them into fists, his eyes flecking with green. Snatches of gold fickered at the edges of his furious aura, staining at the edges as he pushed his powers-and himself-even higher than before. With a defiant scream he flung his arms upward, lances of energy stabbing outward toward the encroaching saibamen. His blue eyes glided upward as four leapt up and away to safety; the fifth had just phased into existence behind him.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried, but in the end, she needn't have bothered.

The saiyan's elbow snapped backward without so much as a backwards glance; producing a sharp retort as it shattered the face of the artificial construct. His left leg jolted to the right in the same instant; propelling his heel into the collarbone of a _second_ saiba as it tried to enfold him in its deadly embrace. Even as it staggered southward his fingers closed around the face of a third. This saibaman, had made the mistake of attempting a frontal assault. He crushed its head in recompense for its temerity. The fourth attacked from below; erupting out of the soul to drench him in acid. Naruto's eyes flew wide open, his aura flaring, as the corrosive fluids drenched him from head to toe, showering him in the deadly venom. Hinata cringed. Vegeta smiled.

Smiled as Naruto came out of the mist, and came out swinging. A swollen fist crashed intothe Saibaman's cheek with all the force of a sledgehammer; the powerhouse bow, separating its head from its neck in signature saiyan fashion, brutal to the core. Deprived of the vital functions of its brain, the saibaman's sundered body gave an abrupt whine and imploded alongside its head, dissolving into harmless smoke. A lone saibaman, was left to leap from the smoke, though not toward the crimson-blond as one might've expected. Instead of attacking it leapt up and away; taking to the sky, putting some much needed distance between itself and that cold crimson fighter below.

Naruto opened his mouth and spat upward at the remaining saibaman; a hellish streak of strawberry red energy tearing past his lips to consume the fifth and final goblin before it'd time to react. Its ashes fluttered past Vegeta's face; forcing the prince to brush them aside with one hand.

He never saw the attack.

One moment he was brushing away the ashes, the next, clenched knuckles found his stomach. The blow rocked him back on his heel, forced him to stagger back a step, nothing more. He grinned as the boy's fist struck his chin, forcing his head upwards a mere fraction of an inch. He forced it down with the muscles of his neck alone. The resulting headbutt sent the boy reeling eliciting a squeak of fear from his pale-eyed friend. Vegeta laughed and flung himself after him, power-swollen fist colliding against the boy's chin in a brutal roundhouse.

Naruto snarled.

"Is that it?" His eyes were still blazing red. "Is that all you've got?"

"Yes, yes!" He couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face nor the mirth from his voice as he boy lashed out in turn, and the battle was joined. Though the boy's power had long since ceased to rise, it was a substantial enough increase to amuse him immensely. The boy would soon be stronger than Nappa, which meant he wouldn't need that bufoon for much longer. Even as he contemplated the death of his comrade, however, the boy's newfound power began to fade. It started slowly; a failed jab here, a meek feint there, but soon enough, his exhaustion became utterly evident. _No more games then,_ he decided, having toyed with the boy for far too long already.

_Time to end it._

Vegeta appeared before him with a soft swish, immediately slamming a fresh beam of light through his left shoulder. Naruto growled in rage and pain and frustration as the lance pinned him back against the shattered floor. Vegeta looked down at him with cold, emotionless eyes, his black orbs completely calm in the face of Naruto's white hot fury. Hinata screamed and tried to rush to his side; a blow from the prince launched her in the opposite direction and left her nursing a bruise upon her cheek.

"Stay out of this, girl!" He shouted after her when she tried to rise. "This is a fight between saiyans!"

Naruto spat an obscenity and tried to rise, despite his ruined arm. Another blow sent him to blackness.

"That's enough for today, boy." Vegeta didn't want to break him, after all. "We resume at dawn tomorrow. Who knows, if you behave, I _might_ even let you see your woman." He turned away satisfied by the marginal increase in the boy and his fighting power. And this was only the first day! If he maintained this rate of increase he'd be at least _half_ as strong as him. Vegeta had his own training regiment of course; he would sooner end his life with his own hand than allow a mere boy to surpass him in power!

"Not yet...

Vegeta stopped in his tracks, his face slowly appearing over his shoulder as he curiously regarded his once fallen opponent. A look of irritation crossed his single eye as it regarded the recovering saiyan behind him. The boy had spunk. Even now that they'd ceased to threaten his woman, he still wished to fight. Good.

"I see," he said, leaving his back turned as the boy pulled himself up off the floor, knuckles dragging against the ground. "So you still think that you can—"

The fist barreled into his face with gusto, bending his nose and destroying the capillaries in his nostrils. Blood poured onto his white gloves as he tried to hold his nose together amidst a cacophony of cries and curses. A feral hiss was all he'd heard before a bended knee struck him from behind; splitting his armored fatigue as though it were made of plaster. He swung about to face his opponent but to no avail; Naruto was already gone from his sight. And then he returned.

_"What?!" _

The prince's uncovered eye went wide as the bones of his cheek bent backward, his nose crunching once more against clenched knuckle; his body reeling from the shock of the stike. Naruto flew at him like a beast; striking and striking and striking, never letting up, eve for a second. His eyes no longer shimmered with scarlet; this was his own strength, with which he flew after the prince, flinging blow after blow with blistering speed and ruthless precision. Vegeta blocked as best he could; parrying a brutal haymaker with his right hand here, only for a underhanded uppercut to slip through his guard and smash into his face there. Enough! He was the prince of all saiyans! He would not stand for this mockery!

Before the blows could batter his defenses any further, Vegeta flung a hand forward, uncaring as a stay shot slipped through his guard and struck him between the eyes. He'd already won. Victory, was his, with fingers splayed before the berserk boy's face. Naruto stood froze in midstrike, eyes narrowed , as if to say: is that it? He leapt backwards before he lost his head, aura seething violently

"I will never forgive you." he hissed at Vegeta.

"..."

The boy glared back at him and there was such hate in his eyes that the prince balked at it.

_**"NEVER!"**_

Naruto threw back his head and screamed. For a moment, the briefest moment, his eyes flashed with jade. His hair flecked into gold, his body bursting with brilliance hereito unseen. Sparks skittered about his body the like of which left his hair standing on end. He stared down the prince, fierce and full of wrath. Abruptly, he slumped forward and onto his face, drained of all energy.

Vegeta looked on as he clutched at the broken remains of his nose, balking at the boy who'd broken it. Where had that sudden increase come from?! Such strength! Such speed! Such power! Vegeta nearly had to resort to the Oozaru form! Grimacing as he snaped his nose back into place, the prince glowered down at the broken blond, uncaring as the pale-eyed maiden rushed forward to tend to his wounds as she'd been instructed. In the span of an instant, he'd nearly been toppled. HIM! The prince of all saiyans! He didn't know whether to feel pride or abject horror. And that hair, those eyes...he'd nearly transformed before his energy gave out upon him back there! He nudged the boy wih a boot, rolling him over and onto his back.

He was sound asleep, slumbering as though he'd never been wounded. Even now the hole in his shoulder was healing, the wound closing of his own accord. He could feel the increase of power, the surge of experiencing near death and returning from the brink; more powerful than before. This whelp...he was no mere saiyan. Only a true warrior should have such power. Only an elite! But that was impossible. He was all that remained of the royal family...wasn't he? And yet...and yet...

"This boy...he couldn't possibly be...

_...the Legendary Super Saiyan?!_

* * *

**A/N: Poor Naruto. If he doesn't obey, Vegeta or Nappa will put the screws to Hinata. And Ayame is a saiyan?! Someone suggested it, implying Naruto had more in common with Ayame and would be far more willing to protect her, seeing as she's so very kind to him. And why; because she has a tail, too! Think about it. Save Hinata, Ayame really was the only other girl he actually had any real interaction with. Not sure if she ought to be a pure-blood or a demi-saiyan, though the former would be a helluva lot more fun. The revival of the saiyan race! Frieza's reaction is only natural in that asect he doesn't want the saiyan race to revive itself after all he did to exterminate it, but neither does he want to lose a useful tool in Vegeta. I think we all see how Naruto might eventually become a super saiyan (he isn't one yet nor is he legendary) in the far off future._..don't mess with his women, ya know!_**

**Vegeta is getting closer to realizing Naruto shares blood with him as a cousin. Will Naruto ever forgive Vegeta, for what he's done to him? Not bloody likely. As Prince Punisher said, Naruto's just as likely to wait for a golden opportunity to stick a knife in the arrogant asshole's back. Vegeta's dead, he just doesn't know it yet. But will he be written off? Of course not! Why, would I write off one of my most favorite foes-not to mention my favorite character-in all of Dbz? Nappa...well...not so much. It's a toss up as to whether Naruto or Vegeta will off him. Hell, Ayame might even get a shot in. But the bad ol' bastard will get what's coming to him, even if he doesn't die. ALso. I am not hating on Hinata. She is just weak right now and Vegeta HATES it when anyone interrupts his battle. That will change in latter chapters, hopefully. No hating on the way I've changed the Naruto-verse!**

**Alas, I must leave you now for work doth call once again. We'll see some much needed ROMANCE in the next chapter and remember, THE PAIRING IS NOT YET SET! Ayame is the only one guaranteed to be in it. Can you imagine that? Not only will Naruto have SPACE RAMEN but he'll eventually have a gaggle of full-blooded gets running around at his feet. Poor boy. The rest, well, it'll can go any number of ways with different girls, depending on what happens. So no flames, please. We see a two year timeskip next chapter, then we jump right into the events of the SAIYAN SAGA directly after Raditz's death! Will our dear Naruto ever manage to get out from under Frieza's thumb? Will he let the other Z-warriors die, or will he intervene? So many questions! Feel free to speculate! The powers is yours! (cliche line, I know) in that aspect, just as it is to decide what Naruto's saiyan name ought to be. **

**Now, dear reader as an apology for the laboriously long author's note, I shall leave u with the immortal and hilarious, words of Frieza himself...**

**...REVIEW UNLESS YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE THE KLORFORS! Dirty, greedy, money grubbing klorfors. Tried to klorf me right out of my money. BLEW THOSE LITTLE BASTARDS UP IS WHAT I DID! SO REVIEW!**

**R&R! =D**


	4. Travelling Lovers

**A/N: Alright here we go! I'm rather surprised by mixed reviews regarding Hinata and her fate. I don't want to ostracize any of you but I DO have a plan for her. Ayame is Naruto's main girl. Hinata will soon learn that...the hard way. And now...two years have passed us by. What has happened in two years time...**

**...let us find out! Also, as a fair warning, this chapter really ought to be rated M...as is this story now!**

_"She belongs to me!"_

_~Naruto._

**Travelling**

"I'm ravenous." Ayame's head emerged from a tangle of bedding, part of which appeared to be on the floor, and the rest wound around her long legs.

"I thought I took care of that last night," Naruto said. He sounded smug.

If a pillow had been within reach she would have flung it at him. As it were, she contented herself to a small smile, nestling her head against his chest. His heart thudded against her ear; the strong, steady beat a sure sign of his own amusement. Two years ago, she never would have done such a thing. Never would've thought of it. Never would've even contemplated such a blatant act of outright affection. Of course, she'd been two years younger then. Two years too naive, two years too childish, two years too frightened of her feelings for him.

Two years have passed since that fateful day; since that bone-jarring ride in the space pod and their awful abduction.

Naruto and Ayame grew, not in just strength and power, not just in skill or stature but in their feelings for one another as well. It was only natural, given that they were forced to train together for two years. During those two years, much to Vegeta's consternation, no new saiyan babies, were born. Not a one. Against all odds, and despite the fact that they'd taken to lying with one another nearly every other _night_ over the last year, Ayame simply failed to produce a child. Not that she minded. The prospect of raising a daughter or_-kami forbid!-_a son amidst so many vile villains was not one she relished.

No, if she was going to have a child with Naruto it would be on _her_ terms. Not theirs. Alas, Vegeta was not so eaisly swayed in that regard.

Though the prince chose to be _merciful_ after witnessing the boy's sudden upsurge in power firsthand he soon found himself frustrated at every turn. The boy wouldn't listen to him! Did he not know how _important_ it was that they restart the saiyan race as soon as possible?! Seventeen years or no age made no difference when the fate of their race was at stake!

When he demanded an explanation, Vegeta had put it bluntly: _How can you possibly hope to resist a woman with a tail like that?_ Naruto had been even more blunt: _I'm way too young to be a dad!_ The princes response had come in equal measure:

_Just look at her tail!_

Naruto, red in the face, had spent several minutes sputtering before he realized the prince referred to the actual furry appendage, _not_ her backside. One thing soon led to another, and before long, the young saiyan had found himself cut off from Hinata entirely. It wasn't that Vegeta was loathe to iinjure her on a sudden or so he claimed. He reasoned_-incorrectly-_that if Naruto spent the next two years with Ayame instead of the Hyuuga the saiyan race was far more likely to be restored. He faiiled to account for the power of their bond. It didn't extend only to emotions as he'd said. If Naruto focused, if he truly focused, he could sense her thoughts, and she his. Upon discovery of this hidden talent, the beginnings of a most twisted revenge had been born.

They'd each decided to deny the prince's demand but he'd made a startling discovery that day nonetheless. Ayame _did_ want a child with him in the future. She wanted a child. With him! Naruto saw the idea in her mind the instant she thought of it, clear as a clarion bell. But she wanted it to be born out of love; not some selfish swill from an arrogant asshole. Thankfully, Naruto shared her opinion. They'd been inesperable ever since, a dynamic duo, one refusing to exist without the other. Friends forged in fire, lovers through their shared bond.

And then there was matter of Hinata.

Naruto would not and _had not_ seen hide nor hair of the Hyuuga heiress for the last two years. Supposedly she'd been training under Nappa. _Godamnit Nappa!_ He'd tried to crush the man's skull, when Vegeta broke that bit of news to him. It hadn't ended well. He'd been left battered and bereft, with broken ribs and a shattered spine; it was only the Kyuubi's incredible healing factor that saved him from outright death. Even then nearly an entire month was lost to him before he fully healed; before he could walk again.

Vegeta had spent the last two years beating their saiyan powers into the two of them, literally and figuratively. Though he was loathe to let the Hyuuga girl anywhere neare either of them, that didn't prevent him from teaching each saiyan; to unlock the deep reserves of power locked with them. He taught them to control the power of the Oozaru form, so that they might never lose themselves beneath the light of the full moon. Two years flew by in a blur; he was certain time itself had conspired to end their time together.

Naruto, now bearing a power level of a steadfast six thousand, found himself lying in bed, doing his level best to ignore Ayame's supple form nestled against him, her bare bosom pushing into his back. Her brown hair had steadily darkened over the years as she'd come into her saiyan blood, the auburn tresses he loved so much, were now akin to a glossy curtain of raven locks, tickling at the nape of his neck. He still seethed at the prospect of serving under Vegeta's thumb like some hapless lackey. Anyone would. But here, with Ayame, he could be himself. As much himself as he could; given the revenge he was still plotting against Vegeta. This would

"Spacing out again?" She teased him, nibbling his ear. Naruto shuddered. They'd just finished and _already_ she was messing with him? There stood yet _another _unfortunate aspect of being a saiyan. When you went into heat just as he and Ayame had last year, your libido went into overdrive in the prescence of a saiyan female. _Especially_ if you were bonded. In short, there was sex. A lot of sex. So much sex, Naruto remained amazed he hadn't grown sick of it yet. Quite frankly he considered it a miracle he _hadn't_ knocked her up yet. Still another miracle; he found his thought about Hinata diminished by the day. He scarcely even thought of her now, and why should he? He hadn't seen her in two years. Ayame was his mate. Just thinking about another girl in her prescence made him...well, nauseous.

"Helllooooo...earth to Naruto?" Ayame had worked her way down his neck in the midst of his reverie; now she was trailing her tongue and lip there in a series of delicate kisses. "Anyone home?" Her hands were a great deal more..._explorative,_ eventually leaving him no choice but to respond to her tender ministrations. He leaned forward and took her mouth in his, reveling in the soft, delighted whimper his lover gave as _his_ own palms roamed over her body, cupping a breast, groping her rear, parting her legs as he drew her close.

"Naughty." Ayame whispered, her breath warm on his face.

"You love it." He hissed back.

"Hmmm." She purred, contemplating every inch of him as he leaned over then into her. "No." She decided at last, her words trailing off into a sultry moan as he entered her. "I love _you."_

"I...adore you." Naruto was cursing himself even as the words left his lips. He just couldn't bring himself to say it. _Damnit._ That had to be the _fifth_ time she'd said it to him, and he still could not utter the dreadful word he knew she wanted to hear. He just couldn't. Hell, he wasn't even sure what love was. Yes, he liked Ayame. He liked her a helluva lot. The sex, especially. But love? No. He just...he just wasn't sure. He wasn't sure he could ever bring himself to feel that way about anyone, not after the way he'd been abused in Konoha.

_Nice job, asshole._ He cursed himself. _Way to put a damper on things..._

It wasn't long at all before he was thrusting slowly inside of her agai; leaving the saiyaness clawing wildly at his back in utter ecstasy, digging bloody furrows into his flesh as he delved deeper and deeper inside her. He was once again grateful for his healing factor; when saiyans mated they nearly broke one another's bones!

"Naruto?"

He shook his head, silently coming.

"Nah, its nothing-

"Boy!" The door slammed open, and they jerked apart in unison. Naruto spat a slew of obscenities as Ayame clutched the covers about herself, as he recognized the figure standing in the doorway. The hair was a dead giveaway. What the hell did Vegeta want this time?!

He propped himself up on his elbows, the blankets sliding from his chest to reveal the chiseled muscles he'd slowly built up over the last year; alongside the patchwork of scars he'd gained under Vegeta's brutal training regiment. He heard Ayame's breath catch in her throat. The nine tails could heal most wounds, but some were so savage that they would not heal, not completely. He would bear these scars for the rest of his life; proof that he'd survived the prince's best attempts to kill him. They frightened her, though, no matter how many times she'd seen them. He fixed Vegeta with a baleful glare, pinnioning him on those baleful crimson orbs.

"What do you want, prince asshole?" he asked archly. Beside him, Ayame stifled a giggle. They'd taken to calling the self-proclaimed prince of saiyans that, and ooooh, how he _hated_ it.

"Grab your gear." The prince commanded. "The both of you. Raditz is dead. We're leaving."

Ayame and Naruto exchanged a glance.

"Raditz is dead?" Naruto didn't particularly care that the earthlings had managed to off one of his captors. If anything, he was grateful. "Who killed him?"

"Kakarot did, but he died in the proccess."

Naruto said nothing, continuing to stare in silence.

"The two of you are coming with us."

_That_ got his attention.

"What?" Naruto blinked. "Why?"

"Because I said so!" Vegeta flung twin suits of armor at the pair. "We're going to earth and that's final!"

"Nah," A sardonic smile stretched Naruto's lips. "I was thinking I'd hang around awhile, maybe play a few more pranks on Frieza...

"You're lucky to be alive after that last prank!"

**"Fine, fine!" **Naruto growled, his voice darkening with the double timbre of his tenant._ "Fucking killjoy..._

_This planet couldn't possibly be that interesting..._

_...could it?_

**A/N: Poor Naruto. Srry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed one for the interlude. Now, before anyone says anything, we WILL see Hinata as of next chapter; just as we'll see what kind of changes she's endured while 'training' under that arrogant asshole Nappa...**

** Where will it all go from here?! One can only guess...**

**Now, dear reader as an apology for the laboriously long wait between this chapter and the previous one, I shall leave u with the immortal and hilarious, words of Frieza himself...**

**...REVIEW UNLESS YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE THE KLORFORS! Dirty, greedy, money grubbing klorfors. Tried to klorf me right out of my money. BLEW THOSE LITTLE BASTARDS UP IS WHAT I DID! SO REVIEW!**

**R&R! =D**


End file.
